


Warmind: God of Mars

by nevermind_sanity



Series: Sanity's Adventures through Destiny 2 [5]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Ash saves everything from going to shit, Everyone is tired of Ana's shit, Gen, Warmind next ya'll
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-28 19:50:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 50,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16729641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nevermind_sanity/pseuds/nevermind_sanity
Summary: Ash gets dragged into Bray drama. For once in her life she did not sign up for this shit.





	1. A Premonition

    The next night after Sarah triumphed over Panoptes, Gale was given another vision.

    The winds were relentless here. She raised her hands in front of her face to try and block some of the snow from getting into her eyes. The cold battered against her small body, the deep snow made it hard to keep walking forward. She could hardly see what was in front of her, winds blew the snow around far too much for her for that. She shivered, her teeth chattering as her ghost could not seem to get her warmed again.

    Echoes seemed to be carried in the wind. They were like whispers, but it was not the usual names she would hear in her dreams. There was no mention of Xyer or Savathun. Instead there were calls of Xol, of Nokris, whistling in her ears and blowing back her soaked hair.

    There’s a clear sound of something cracking. Suddenly the ground caved in beneath her, and she went tumbling down. She couldn’t seem to get a scream out of her lungs as she fell head first into the pit. As she fell, she could see red lights dotting the walls, and instead of rock, there was metal. This seemed awfully familiar, like that Warmind back on Io that Cid and her had used to scan the Almighty. Then there was a strange energy starting to manifest around her. It was red, and it seemed like cords weaving together in ever changing patterns. She started to flail about as it seemed to want to cage her. Instead, a voice boomed out within the tunnels.

    “Я - Распутин. У меня нет равных” It said. She didn’t understand the voice at all, but for some reason she could feel a jolt of fear running through her. The energy quickly dissipated, and the metal turned into ice. The red lights were gone now, and it suddenly went dark.

    Her body slammed into the unforgiving ice shelf below. She let out a groan of pain as she pried herself off of the floor. She looked up to see she was now in a tunnel of ice, but there were signs of Hive Corrosion all over the place. She started feeling a little nervous seeing that. That meant that there was even the slightest chance that Xyer could be around.

    She turned around to see the way behind her was caved in, so her only way out was forward. Carefully creeping along as she shivered, she came to a turn into was wide opened room. It seemed to be a ritual room of sorts, but there was only one Hive Wizard here. Gale quickly noted as she stared from the darkness that the wizard was standing… which most likely meant…

_Nokris…_

    She heard that familiar voice and her heart nearly stopped. She covered her mouth with her hands to prevent the yelp that nearly came out. She instead kept watching Xyer sift through what seemed to be runes, tablets, scrolls, looking for something that must’ve been important.

_Where did you put it? Necromancy… no, you’re going about it all wrong…_

    She didn’t know what Xyer was talking about, but she wasn’t keen on finding out. On the other hand though, perhaps now would be a great time to find out what exactly the witch was planning. Necromancy? Bringing things back from the dead, or themselves? That was nothing new for Guardians. It was part of their everyday life. But for the Hive…

    The room suddenly gave a shake. Xyer’s body jolted, and for the first time, Gale saw the witch being afraid. She seemed to be scared of whatever was causing the shaking. She quickly tore a hole in reality and scrambled inside to get away from it. There was a crack in the ceiling, and Gale looked up to see it breaking open, and something crawling through. She couldn’t stop the scream from her throat when she saw the massive creature coming down straight at her.

     _Worm God. It’s a Worm God_ , her mind told her.

    Y O U  A R E A L O N E

    It suddenly started to speak, and Gale bit down on her hand to keep those terrified sounds from coming out. It was deep, dark, and such a threatening voice. She started to back away from it, but it kept getting closer. All the while she was starting to find it harder to breathe. She took her hands away from her mouth, but the feeling got worse along with a dizzying headache. It was as if the worm was suffocating her.

    She slipped and fell on her back side. By this time she was gasping for air as she couldn’t seem to get oxygen in her lungs. Her hands came up to her own neck as it burned. She could feel her lungs aching as it begged to have some oxygen to keep going. The only thing that came out as the worm got closer and was almost touching her was choking and gagging sounds. Her light was no where to be found either. She was completely helpless.

    Y O U  W I L L  D R O W N I N  T H E  D E E P

    She woke up after that, screaming at the top of her lungs. She found herself gasping for air and having the hardest time trying to regulate her breathing. She even had a neighbouring room knock on her door and ask if she was alright.

    She was, and would be. She would not be the one at Xol’s mercy later.


	2. Once Upon a Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little more about Ash

   The Tower had never seen such a storm that blew through in all its years it stood. The winds howled, the snow pounded and it seemed to just last forever. It was day three of this unforgiving blizzard, and not even Guardians could really move about.

    It of course left Shaxx very bored in that tower. This blizzard put everything, including his crucible, at a stand still. He paced along the wall, peering out the window to the wilds for any sign of the blizzard letting up, but he was not that lucky. He let out a sigh of sorts as stared outside, completely out of ideas on what to do. He didn’t want to participate in Cayde’s shenanigans, Ikora was too buried in books, Zavala was a stuck up, which left him with not much else to do other than watch the snow fall. That wasn’t his idea of fun. Of course, he supposed, he could come up with new Crucible ideas, but he ran dry of those yesterday. He could only be cooped up for so long without any action without getting restless.

    He didn’t really know how long he stood there, watching the snow fall, but after some time a shadow caught his eye. For a moment, he wondered if he was going stir crazy, but the shadow persisted. It was walking towards the tower, down the mountain, through the deep snow. Rather confused, Shaxx decided to run down the hall and the stairs to the bottom level. There was a walking entrance for stragglers who came in every now and then, but most times it was sealed up tight. He came down to the bottom, and shouted at the workers lazed about.

    “Open that door! Something’s outside!”

    The workers suddenly jolted to life. One of them ran to the lever and pulled it down. The door gave a creak and groan as it was forced to open in -15C weather. A cold rush of air blew right through along with the snow as it slid open. It was dark out there, and even as Shaxx’s ghost shone a light out there, the approaching shadow still wasn’t clear. It looked human, not one of the Fallen. The Fallen were not so suicidal to be out here in this hell storm heading towards the city.

    “You there!” Shaxx shouted, “Do you seek refuge here?!”

    The shadow said nothing, just kept dragging itself forward. Shaxx looked around outside before taking a chance and stepping foot into the deep snow. Slowly he walked forward against the raging wind and the bitter cold. As he got closer, the shadow was gaining a more human shape, and it seemed like she was struggling.

    “Just stay there!” Shaxx shouted, but the shadow kept moving. As they got close, they could finally see brown hair, soaked and plastered messily on her face. Her skin was turning blue, she was shivering violently, and she could barely move at this point. She was wearing just a black shirt that was too big for her and old worn out jeans, not nearly enough protection from the cold. Her brown eyes were glassy with tears as her pale shaking hand reached out to the Titan.

    “H…help….” she managed to croak out of her throat. She felt her hand being taken, and her body being pulled into his. She felt herself being lifted up into his arms, tucked away from the wind. She shakily reached up and grabbed onto the fur around his collar, pressing herself up to him for any sort of warmth.

   “Hey! We need a medical team down here right now!” Shaxx yelled at the gawking staff. They all ran off to get help, and one of them shut the door when Shaxx came back through. He ran her up the stairs away from the freezing door. Suddenly the dead tower sprung to life as they realized there was an emergency situation. One of them waved Shaxx into a lounge room where it was warm and he could sit the small woman in a more comfortable seat. Someone had lit the old fireplace inside, even though they weren’t supposed to as the vent was rather old.

    She shivered so violently once she was sat down on the sofa. She held onto herself, her teeth chattering, tears streaming down her face and small breathy sounds coming out of her mouth. People rushed in with blankets, someone carrying a bucket of lukewarm water to sponge her down with.

    “Excuse me? Can you hear us miss?” one worker asked. Shaxx watched as the small woman looked up at the person, “I can help you warm up and get better, but I need you to work with me as best as you can, ok?”

    The girl shook her head.

    “Why not…?”

    They then all jerked back a little in surprise when they watched a ghost manifest beside her. Suddenly it made a lot more sense as to how she managed to trudge all the way to the tower. Shaxx found himself staring in awe of the girl as her ghost started to heal her frost bite and raise her temperature back to normal. The storm was so violent the ghost probably couldn’t stay out to keep her temperature up. She must be a new Risen, because most Guardians can keep themselves warm with their light for a while. This one probably didn’t know how to do that yet.

    “Well, don’t just stand there and gawk!” Shaxx suddenly piped up, looking at all of the workers, “Give this poor girl a blanket! Give her something warm to drink! She’s still shaken! Give her a warm welcome into this tower!”

    They all snapped to attention. One of them handed her a blanket she quickly snatched and wrapped herself in. They all quickly filtered out of that room, one of them running to get the Vanguard, leaving only the new girl and Shaxx in that room. The big Titan walked over and sat beside the girl who curled up tight into the blankets. At first, she seemed to stuff herself in the far corner, away from her rescuer. Shaxx understood though. She most likely woke up with no memory of who she was nor how she got into her situation.

    “You are a strong one, you know that?” Shaxx asked. The girl looked over to him and didn’t say anything, so he continued, “I imagine it was not easy navigating this place, and you probably died more than a few times.”

    She looked down a bit, then turned her eyes to the burning fireplace. It seemed to soothe her a little. It was warm, bright, unlike her last 3 days and nights.

    “You can make your own fires, you know.”

    She looked back up at him.  He shifted to be a bit closer to her, but she seemed to try and lean further back. He backed up a bit then and gave her more space. He would have to be patient with gaining this one’s trust.

    “Inside you is a Light. The light can take many forms once you learn how to wield it. You can use it make fire around you, to keep you warm, once you know how to of course. You’ll learn in time.”

    She nodded a little. She was still a bit scared, it was plain to see. Shaxx glanced around before reaching up for his helm. This girl would be one of the very few to see the face behind it. Her eyes lit up a little seeing the very human face there, smiling so gently at her, trying to calm her down and gain her trust.

    “I know it’s frightening when you first wake. You don’t even remember your name, do you?”

    She shook her head.

    “I didn’t either, but I call myself Shaxx now. I am a Guardian, and I organize the Crucible to help train new Guardians like yourself. I’ve seen many in my time, but very few with your potential. How long do you think you worked through that storm for?”

    She seemed to think for a moment, before shrugging.

    “This storm has been over us for 3 days. For 3 days and 3 nights you fought your way through. You must’ve died so many times, but you kept going. That is the kind of determination we need around here. I see in you so much, and I understand you’re scared, but believe me, the hard part is over. I think you’ll relish in this new life you’ve been given, and will use your gift well.”  

    Shaxx put his helmet back on as the girl nodded a little. He reached over with his paw like hand for her to shake. She slowly let hers slip out of the blanket. Shaxx could see a few small embers around it that faded to ash. He started to smile so bright, seeing her learn already, and even more when she gingerly took his hand.

    “I think Ash is a good name for you. What do you say?”

    Ash smiled a little and nodded, “…I like that…” she quietly peeped.

    “This will be your new home now. I will even train you myself until you shine. One day you’ll become one of the best, I can see it already.”

    She nodded again as she let go of his hand.

* * * *

    It took some time for Ash to turn into what she was. She had two influences: Shaxx and Cayde. It was easy to see where parts of her came from, even though much of it was already existing behind the fear. She was a natural with Sol energy, but teaching her proper ways to control it was a challenge. She was certainly no Warlock, but even a Hunter could accidentally set things on fire when they were spooked. The number of cloaks and other items that were ruined because she didn’t have her light quite down pat was uncountable.

    A hunter showed her the way with a Golden Gun, but her main teacher was Shaxx. He was surprisingly patient with her at first, as she learned the basics of shooting a gun. As she came out of her shell more, that competitive spirit came out of her as she got better and better.

    “Better watch out,” she said one day, “Or I might beat you one day old man!”

    Shaxx laughed, “I’ll hold you to that! The day you can beat me, is the day your training will finally end!”

    They brought the competitiveness out of each other. Ash learned the sword from Shaxx, but in each fair swordmatch, she was beaten. That only spurred her on to get better and better. When she was finally put into the Crucible, she of course suffered some losses, but those losses only made her get better. Shaxx found himself yelling and cheering her on when she started to cut people down with that sword, her aim with her hand canon got better, and she started to help her team win more and more. He was proud of any Guardian who won, but he took a special pride in the small hunter who he put so much time into.

    Cayde taught her a more mischievous side of being a Hunter. His sense of humor managed to get a laugh out of her when she first met him, and since then he had been that one cool uncle that she rarely saw, but showed her all sorts of neat things. Other hunters played pranks on people, and Ash started to learn them.

    (Shaxx wasn’t too pleased when she pulled a small prank of making a box explode in streamers though, but he did forgive her.)

     Her obsession with fire however did worry them a little. The first time she ever got sent into the wilds by herself she nearly burned down an entire forest because it got cold. Since then they kept her in the tower, where she could hone her powers a bit more. Her pranks became more fire themed as well, and they weren’t sure if they should do something about it or let it continue.

    One day, two years after she was found in the snow, Shaxx approached her. By now she was gaining a name for herself as one of the best in the Crucible, and it was partly why he was coming to her now. He needed someone to be a good challenge for this particular person, someone who would gauge just how much he recovered.

    “I have a special case for you.” Shaxx told her.

    She looked up at tilted her head. She had been sitting on the railing of the tower, swinging her feet over the edge without a care, “Special case?”

    “I need someone to challenge a Warlock in a duel: one light verses another. He’s spent the last 2 years or so recovering from a…. substantial injury, and now we need to see what he needs to work on.”

    “Injury?” Ash asked, even more confused. She turned and slid herself off of the railing. He looked even small compared to Shaxx, “I thought ghosts could heal any injury.”

    Shaxx’s shoulders seemed to fall a little, which made Ash worry, “There are some things even ghosts cannot heal. You’ll learn that in time.”

    She didn’t have a clue back then what he meant by that. All she knew was she was to battle it out with a Warlock. When she walked into the ring she could see a tall man before her. He was adorned in black and gold. She was told his name was Cid, and even though he had been recovering, she shouldn’t take it easy on him.  

    She had fought Warlocks before, but this fight felt different. She felt like she was standing toe to toe with him. She felt like she was fighting an equal, no, someone better than her, and she had to really stay on her game to keep up. She died, he died, they both wouldn’t give it up. She unsheathed her sword at one point, and completely caught him off guard, killing him again. He would return the favour though, in one of the most beautiful ways she had ever seen.

    She lost sight of him for a moment, but then heard a sound behind her. She whirled around to see he had gone into the air, and now wings of fire had spread from his back. She found herself in shock and awe at the weapon her now held: a sword lit up on fire, which left her wide open for him to come down and behead the hunter. After Chie revived her, she didn’t last long as a wave of fire slammed into her back. Another revival after, and she was quickly staring down the barrel of his gun. There was no shot however, as it was made quite clear that the Hunter was beaten.

    But she was not upset. She instead started laughing. The Warlock seemed rather confused when she did as he lowered his gun. She took off her mask, grinning ear to eat at him.

    “How did you do that?! Where did you learn?” she suddenly asked.

    “…self taught.” He said. Someone had shown him a long time ago when he first came to the tower, but he never used it until recently. He nervously covered his right hand with his left, but Ash didn’t even notice.

    “You taught yourself that?! Holy shit! That’s the most awesome thing I’ve ever seen!”

    He looked back at her, “Is… is it really that surprising?”

    “Don’t be like that!” Ash bounced right up to him, “Cid, right? You gonna be in the Crucible more?”

    “I… planned on it.”

    “We definitely need a rematch then! I’ll be better, and I’ll kick your ass!” She then held out her hand to shake, “Ash by the way!”

    He still seemed a bit pensive, but he took her hand, “Pleasure to meet you.”

    They were sort of friends after that, but the Red War really strengthened the bond between them. He turned into that older brother who seemed to know everything and was fun to mess with. She had no idea until Ikora had told her after Savathun’s song what he had been recovering from back then, but she had made sure to be there for him the second time around he had to recover from trauma.

    She fully understood then what Shaxx had meant. There were some things a ghost could never heal. Only time and support could heal those sorts of wounds. She learned from Sarah that it had to be both, as time couldn’t do all the work.

* * * *

    Gale was one of those sisters that everyone wanted to protect and wanted to protect everyone. While Sarah was the mom friend, Gale was the gentler one. On the way to the Almighty the two had chatted all the way there, but what really cemented their friendship, was when Gale held onto her hand through that firestorm on the Almighty, and held her when they were finally safe.

    Ash couldn’t stand seeing her sad all the time now. She always seemed tired, low energy, just not quite herself. Shortly after the Pyramidion strike, Ash managed to catch her on her way over to Ikora again. The Hunter practically tackled the woman as she hugged her. Gale did sense her, but didn’t expect the speed at which the hunter was going to run at her.

    “Ash?” she asked, obviously confused, “What brought this on?”

    “Nooooothing.” Ash chimed as she let go of the woman, “Other than you need a break from doom and gloom. Remember when I said I watch Dragon Ball Z Abridged?”

    “Um… yes?” Gale tilted her head.

    “Well, we’re gonna sit down and watch it now. You need to stop working so much and relax a bit!”

    “B-But…” Gale looked over to where she was heading.

    “Come on, pleeeeeease?” Ash stood a bit on her tip toes and leaned forward, trying to be as cute as she could, “Even Ikora’s gonna agree you need a break. Just sit down for once and have a few laughs.”

   Gale shut her eyes and gave a sigh. It just made her look even more tired, and even more reason Ash wanted her to stop and just breathe for a moment.

    “I… suppose it wouldn’t hurt.”

    “Yes!” Ash threw a fist in the air, “Talk to Ikora and meet me in my room. We’re binge watching this!”

    Ash was practically skipping back to her place, just happy she could tear the Warlock away from her work. When she had been nursing apparently it had been the same thing: hard to get her away from it and relaxing. Thankfully Gale was the kind of person to keep her word, and shortly after Ash queued up the episodes, Gale did come. The room was nicely scented from Ash’s candles, and it was clearly meant for comfort with the large pillows all around.

    “Oi, sit down woman! Take a load off.” Ash called to her as she lay down on one of her pillows. She had a monitor and computer set up across from her already on the Disclaimer screen. Gale sat beside her, and as soon as she did, Ash could see her shoulders slump as exhaustion from little sleep was already overcoming her.

    “Maybe I made it too comfy in my room…” Ash mumbled.

    “Oh no… it’s fine.” Gale yawned in between her sentence, “I’ll be fine.”

    Ash chewed her lower lip a little before looking back up at her, “If… if you want Gale, you can sleep here, so you don’t have to face those awful dreams alone.”

    Gale seemed surprised at the offer, “Oh, well… y-you don’t have to…”

    “It must suck not being able to sleep, and it’s not getting any better. Maybe if you didn’t sleep by yourself it might not be so bad?”

    Gale’s gaze fell onto the floor, “…that… might not be a bad idea…”

    “Relax a little, take a load off, sleep if you want. You deserve it.” Ash then clicked play so she could watch the show.

    Gale managed a tiny smile, “…thank you Ash.”

    Gale only managed to stay awake a couple of episodes before giving into the need for sleep. She seemed to enjoy the humor while she was conscious at least. (Even though she said a few times ‘Oh that’s terrible!’) Ash didn’t mind that she fell asleep. She looked the most peaceful she had in so long, Ash put in some headphones so she wouldn’t disturb her. The hunter knew she would be embarrassed when she woke up, but didn’t care so long as she got some sleep.

    Her sister needed to be less hard on herself, and take care of herself.

* * * *

    Sneaking up on someone you were close to as a Guardian was no easy feat. They could sense you, so the surprise came from how you approached. Shortly after their time in the Infinite Forest Alexander seemed to have his face buried in the creation of something he called the ‘Sunbracers.’ He seemed keen on getting them done so Cid could test them out. Ash had no idea what they did, but it didn’t really matter. What mattered was it was taking all of Alexander’s attention right now.

    Carefully now she had to creep up on him. She was hidden behind some crates, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Amanda and Alexander both stood there, the mechanic giving advice and chatting with Alexander’s ghost. As soon as Amanda walked away, she would pounce on him like a cat. She couldn’t help but giggle a little. It was so obvious that Alex had a tiny crush on Amanda, but she doubted it was going anywhere.

    There, she was leaving now. She waited for just a moment longer before vaulting herself over the crates to jump on Alexander’s back. She was grinning ear to ear as she quickly closed the gap. There was no way the Titan would see…

    Oh

    Suddenly Alexander turned around and opened his arms to catch the hunter. It seemed like he had been aware of where she was the entire time, and just waited for her to make her move. She was suddenly caught in a bear hug, and when he loosened his grip she tried to get away, only for him to turn her around and put his hand on her head and mess it up.

    “You thought you got me that time, didn’t you?” Ghost chimed as he translated for his Guardian. Even Ghost looked a little smug.

    “Muuu! I’ll get you yet!” Ash whined as she struggled to get free of the Titan’s grip.

    “Now what to do with you… oh! I know!”

    Ash then started to shriek with laughter as Alexander started to tickle her ribs. She fell right to the floor, but that didn’t stop the assault. It was like this quite often between the two. Sometimes it was tickle fights, sometimes it was wrestling the other, but it was always in good fun. Since Alexander remembered his past, some of his more childish side started to come out every now and then.

    When he finally let up, Ash had gone red in the face from laughing so much. She was still giggling and grinning up at him like a fool afterwards, and both Alex and Ghost laughed.

    “Maybe one day you’ll win Ash.” Ghost chirped.

    “I’ll get you yet.” Ash stood back up, grinning at him, “And when I do, you’ll suffer a tickle attack the likes of which you’ve never seen!”

    “We’ll see about that.” Alexander proudly put his hands on his hips.

    “Hey Amanda, you seen big blue?”

    Their mood very quickly sobered when they heard Cayde’s voice. They looked over to see Amanda and Cayde chatting. Cayde seemed a little worried, which in turn worried them.

    “Can’t say I have. Why do you ask?”

    “Well I was gonna ask him something but I can’t seem to find him anywhere. I can’t sense him either. It’s weird.”

    “Maybe he went out and finally got a hobby?” Amanda suggested with a nervous smile.

    “Hah! That’ll be the day, but seriously though…”

    “Relax Cayde, I’m sure he’ll be back in a while.”

    “You sure? Cause last time he was more serious than normal. He was mumbling something about Rasputin and Mars? Didn’t really catch much though.”

    Alexander and Ash looked at each other. The fact that their Titan Vanguard had slipped out wasn’t a good sign. They also had no idea who or what Rasputin was nor what it had to with Mars.

    Whether they wanted to or not, they would find out soon.


	3. Anastasia Bray

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Mars, cold, ice, snow, let’s send Ash…”

     Ash can’t remember the last time she ran solo. It was a long time ago, she knew that. She far rather work in the company of her friends, but all of them were out in other places right now, looking for remnants of the Red Legion, just like she was. She was assigned to Mars, where Ikora mentioned strange activity there. Things called Warsats were falling out of orbit around the planet. She explained that Warsats were part of the Wamind, Rasputin. She didn’t listen to a lot of what Ikora said, but she did catch that it was a massive AI designed to protect humanity against the unknown.

     A whole lot of good that did, Ash thought.

    What was more important was the Red Legion was trying to scavenge them and that’s why she was here now. As the ship dropped out of hyperspace, she could see those Warsats falling down like rain to Mars. She frowned a little looking at them all. Something was not right here. How did that many Warsats orbit around Mars? Were they being called here?

    “The fuck…?” Ash mumbled as she took her ship into Mars’ atmosphere. This was not a planet she really wanted to be on with the snow and ice, but she was getting little choice in the matter. She hoped to avoid the Ice Caps, but she could see each and every Warsat was falling there. Her question was, more than anything, why?

    “Hey Cid? You there?” Ash radioed. Chie could only play through static as he tried to answer. She let out a sigh. Wherever he was must be blocking radio signal, she would have to look into this on her own.

    “Mars, cold, ice, snow, let’s send Ash…” the hunter grumbled as she flew down to look for a landing spot, dodging the falling Warsats all the while. She still hated the cold, still hated snow and ice, but at least there was no blizzard though here.

    She was startled suddenly by an alarm going off. Chie tilted her shell as they looked on her dash. Her radio was picking up an emergency signal from… the private Vanguard channel? They weren’t allowed to use that, and the last time Ash did she got in major trouble.

    “Ash, do you think something happened back home?” Chie squeaked.

    “If something bad happened they’d have it across all channels. This is just weird.” Ash frown a little, “Let’s listen in anyways.” Chie gave a nod and opened up the radio channel to listen.

    “Mayday! Do you copy?!” a woman shouted through the radio suddenly. “Vanguard Access Code 030… get away from my ghost you frozen…!”

    Ash’s eyes widened a little as she heard gunfire on the other side. She looked at her ghost who gave a nod and started to try to find the source of the signal.

    “Oi! Can you hear me?!” Ash shouted into the radio.

    “Someone’s here?! Listen, I need back up, right now!”

    “Yeah I got that part! The hell’s going on down there?”

    “I’m sending you coordinates to a safe landing zone. Please hurry!”

    Ash was about to tell her the serial number she would need, but she could already feel the ship shifting course and starting to slow down. She looked over to see Chie was already working to get them somewhere safe.

    “Of course, right on the fucking ice cap…” Ash grumbled as her ship came to a landing on an ice shelf, “You seriously owe me big for this one. I hate the fucking cold.”

    “I wouldn’t have called you down here unless it was absolutely critical. The most dangerous weapon system is on this planet, and the Hive are trying to destroy it! I need your help!”

    Ash opened the cockpit and jumped out, cringing a little at the sound of snow beneath her boots. Her thermal suit and her Light would keep her warm, but as she put on her mask, she couldn’t help but feel quite uncomfortable. She grabbed her gun and Chie started to lead on.

    “You never did answer my question. Are you ok? What’s going on?” Ash asked as she slid down a small hill on the ice towards a cave.

    “I’m ok for now, but there’s a whole lot of ‘not ok’ between us and the Clovis Bray facility which is where we need to be.” The woman answered.

    “Clovis Bray… I feel like that’s important but I didn’t pay attention.” Ash stopped right before the mouth of an ice cave. She felt rather nervous, but talking was helping her fears.

    “Another hunter then? Yeah I don’t pay much attention either unless it’s something I’m interested about.”

    Ash smiled a little hearing that, and some of her nerves left her. It was enough that she could step foot into the cave, “You didn’t answer my question.” She chuckled a little.

    “This is the place where a lot of technology was born, including the EXOs and Rasputin.”

    Ash’s eyes lit up a little hearing EXO. Now she was very interested, “EXOs? Shit. And why do we need to be there in a hurry?”

    “Warsats like the one that nearly hit you on approach have been dropping out of the sky since I got here, which usually means only one thing.”

    “I thought those were weird.” Ash slid down a little on the ice in the cave, “I was wondering how so many warsats could be in orbit. It’s like they’re being summoned. Ikora said something about a Warmind, but I thought he was on earth.”

    “It’s named Rasputin. Rasputin is capable of operating on multiple systems on multiple planets at once, but his core mind was always here.”

    Ash let out an impressed whistle, “So we’re talking serious tech here, and that explains the Warsats. So the Hive are trying to fuck shit up over there and we gotta clear it. Got it.”

   The small tunnel suddenly opened up into a much large room. Ash had to admit, seeing the ice arching over her and the shelves of rock and ice was very interesting and pretty to look at. Along the path she carefully treaded, making sure she didn’t fall into crevasse that was right beside her. The path thankfully got wider, allowing her to move faster without feeling like she was going to fall off.

    She suddenly came to a stop and rolled back when the ground in front of her burst open. Out came a few Thrall that had been lying in wait beneath the ice who now charged her. They were hardly a threat to Ash, who simply shot them in the head, but what did shock her was how they completely shattered when she did that, as if their bodies were made of ice itself.

    “Um… can I ask you a question? Why do these Hive shatter like glass?” Ash asked as she looked at the pieces on the ground. It made her stomach twist and lurch a little seeing the frozen pieces of organ lying there.

    “Your guess is as good as mine. I think they’ve been here for so long that the ice became part of their bodies. It’s only now that they’re thawing out.”

    “Hive are weird.”

    “Tell me about it.”

    There were more waiting for Ash as she went deeper into the tunnels. Their bodies were far more brittle than normal Hive, which presented a problem with her sword if she didn’t swing hard enough, but enough bullets would shatter their bodies. She tried not to think about the frozen shards of blood and Hive on the ground as she ran past them. She noticed that they seemed to have made frozen ice shields now, which just made it more annoying to kill the knights. The brittle ice however didn’t stand up to bullets too well, and she was able to carve her way through.

    She found herself taking out her knives as the path went upwards now to exit the caves. She found one section of it be slippery, and used the knives to help her climb up the hill she couldn’t quite jump up to.

    “I get the feeling that this is just the tip of the iceberg, no pun intended.”Ash radioed to the woman as she put her knives back in their satchels, “We might need more help. I’ve got four others that’ll make these guys wish they weren’t born, and we probably should tell the Vanguard what’s up.”

    “Fireteam maybe, Vanguard no. Not a good idea. Zavala won’t like the fact we’re digging around Rasputin.” She replied.

    “Why not? I know he’s a bit of an ass sometimes but I mean…”

    “He wants the past to stay buried, but we need to get in there to find out what’s going on with Rasputin.”

    “I mean, I kind of get that. Some things should be left alone, but when Warsats are falling out of the sky and the Hive are in a tizzy? Might be worth digging up again to see what ancient evil is trying to kill us.”

    “Wow, someone with their sanity! I think I’m going to really like you.”

    Ash could see now a light at the end of the tunnel. When she finally came out the other side, she was greeted by the sight of the red sands of Mars, collected together with snow. In the distance she could see the massive facility that housed the Warmind, and road like structures leading up to it. Sometimes it was easy to forget how every planet was colonized and worked just like earth until you saw things like that.

    The ground suddenly gave a shake, and when Ash looked up she saw rock and debris flying in the air. For a moment, she saw a massive creature coming up from one of the buildings and down into the rock again. It seemed like some sort of giant worm, but it was hard to tell from where she stood.

    “What the fuck was that?!” Ash shouted.

    “What was what?”

    “That thing that just came out of the facility!”

    “Shit! We got to get moving. I’ll clear out the Hive on my side, you carve your way through!”

    She found herself sorely missing Sarah as she looked at how many Hive she had to deal with. The Hunter would just fire an arrow at all of these Hive, pinning them down so quickly between the two of them. Her new Orpheus Rig would’ve been perfect for this, but alas, she was alone. Gale could also easily clear out this mess, but she wasn’t here either.

    Ash let out a breath as she decided to just dive in head first, and see if she could make her way there. Bullets flew throughout the air as she ran through. She didn’t dare to stop moving through it, her sword slicing off the heads of the smaller Hive if she could, diving to the back to throw a knife into a head, only to run back towards them shooting as she needed to pick it back up.  She found herself grumbling as she ran about trying to finish just a small group. If she wasn’t alone, she knew very well that it would’ve been dealt with by now.

    She raced up the hill cursing under her breath as she had to make sure her aim was on point. The last thing she needed was to run out of ammo because she wasted it trying to down these brittle fiends. This was so far turning into a horrid day, so naturally when they summoned forth an Ogre to stop her assault, she was less than impressed. She simply summoned her Golden Gun, and the blast destroyed its head.  The woman hardly batted an eye towards it, turning her attention to the more troublesome smaller enemies that would gang up on her. She was about to reach for her sword to chop them down, but someone beat her to the punch. She was suddenly a little startled by the gunshots hitting the rest of the Hive and shattering their heads. When she turned towards the source, there stood a Hunter who had hid behind some abandoned supplies and who took them out one by one.

    “Hey! You made it!” She said with a smile. It sounded like the same woman she had been talking to, and who was now in a much better mood. She was pretty, adorned in blue and white, darker skin than her own, short hair, pretty brown eyes, but certainly someone she hadn’t seen before.

    “You thought I wasn’t?” Ash asked as she took her mask off with a smirk.

    “Well, there were a lot of them,” the woman shrugged, “And I know the woes of crowd control as a Gunslinger.”

    “Tell me about it.” Ash sighed. She could tell she would like this hunter. The woman started to walk towards the massive doors and Ash started to follow.  “Hey, you never did tell me your name.”

    “I don’t have to give it you know.” The woman sounded like she was teasing, but still…

    “Well I did save your ass, and now you’ve gotten me interested in this place.” Ash raised a brow as she started to walk up the hill. The two of them stopped outside of those doors and turned to each other.

    “Fair enough. Ana. You can call me Ana.”

    “Ash.” The hunter stuck out her hand to shake, “Nice to meet you Ana.”

    “Nice to meet you too.” Ana grinned back at her and shook it. She then turned to the door and walked to a small panel. “Let’s see what’s in here then and get some answers. Besides, you know, hordes and hordes of Hive.”

    “They’re just the icing on the murder cake don’t you know?” Ash laughed a little, and she seemed to get a chuckle out of Ana.

    “I knew I liked you.”

    She punched in some numbers, and the door gave a creak and shudder. Ash watched as the doors slowly slid open, and found her nerves gathering up in a bundle. She found herself wishing Cid and Alexander were here to see this. She would love to give some answers to them about EXOs and how they worked. She would just have to bring them here afterwards, she thought.

    “You have EXO friends?” Ana asked. Ash looked over and nodded, “Wondered if that was why you were suddenly interested. I don’t know if the Deep Stone Crypt is here where they were made, but there might be some clues.”

    “I just want something for them. They’re like my brothers, you know? They tried to crack the code before, but that was a dead end. We found other answers, but not that.”

    Ana nodded, “Let’s hope my family left some answers for them.”

    “Your family?” Ash gave her a puzzled look.

    “You’ll see.”

    The two walked into the grounds of the facility, Ash putting on her mask and Ana reloading her gun. Ash somehow felt like she was stepping into something that was far beyond what she could handle by herself, and was tempted to call for help. But as she walked up the ramp and saw just how large the facility was, she found herself wanting get a hold of those little secrets held inside.

     _You’ll love this place guys_ … Ash thought to herself.


	4. What is Family?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ana Bray don goofed

    The roadway into the facility had not been treated kindly in the last few centuries. Ice had preserved it, but according to Ana, recently the glacier that had been holding this place had broke with the awakening of the Traveler. Bit by bit, piece by piece, it had all fallen apart, ancient systems stirring and waking up once more.

    The meltdown however wrecked havoc on this little passage. The road above them broke beneath the pressure, and all of those cars and the cargo trucks had fallen down. They were strewn everywhere, old crates of supplies that never made their delivery was with them. Ash noted that Ana seemed a bit sad looking at them. Maybe she wondered what was inside those crates that were now surely damaged by time and the fall.

    The road had buckled into a ramp and as they came up it they could see the imposing Clovis Bray facility, still partially buried by the red sand and snow. Ana started grinning ear to ear as she looked at the tower, the smaller buildings, once home to some of the most brilliant minds of the Golden Age, once home to her.

    There was a sound above them. They looked up to see a Thresher roll in above them and towards the facility. Ash clicked her tongue ad she put her hands on her hips, remembering now the reason she came here in the first place.

    “They found this place too huh?” Ash asked with a raised brow, “Well I can at least say I did what I was supposed to on this planet honestly.”

    “We’ve got to make sure they don’t take anything from this place!” Ana growled as she raised her weapon towards the first one in sight.

    “Way ahead of you.” Ash unsheathed her sword, “You shoot, I slice. We cut our way into that place.”

    “Deal.”

    The two of them ran forward and once she was in range, Ana took the first shot at a Legionary’s head. They all whirled around to the source when their friend fell over, only to be met with Ash’s sword. It felt much smoother cutting through the three Psions than it did the brittle Hive. She was about to whirl around to cut down the last Legionary, but Ana beat her to the punch.

    “You’re good with that thing!” Ana called as she ran to meet up with her. More Legion were swarming the path to the main entrance and were now trying to rush them.

    “Thanks!” Ash shouted as she ran forward. As soon as she heard the growling of Warbeasts running past the legionaries though, she skidded to a stop and leaped back, throwing a swarm grenade to help cut down their health and perhaps even their numbers. She could see Ana had done the same thing, and now shrapnel and fire pieced into the creatures, forcing them to stop their assault. Ash ran forward and finished the last of those hounds off, and she could hear Ana shooting the Legionaries running into the facility.

    They moved forward again, and their leader was waiting for them. He stood at the base of the stairs that curved upwards to large windows overlooking Mars. They didn’t really have time to look around though as they were being shot at. Both girls rolled out of the way of incoming blasts. Ash used the opportunity to summon her Golden gun and shoot the leader square in the face, destroying the head completely. As he fell over, Ana summoned her own light, and nailed the last four legionaries in the head with her own Golden gun. Ash grinned ear to ear watching those precision shots. Ana was good, there was no mistaking that.

    When the dust finally settled, they could finally look around. They could see the ceiling was vaulted above their heads, lines of blue and white accented the floor. Even after all these years the place was relatively clean, the neon on the wall still shining bright and reading CLOVIS BRAY.

    “I’m here…” Ana breathed as she started to walk up the stairs to the first terminal in sight, “I’m here I can’t believe it…! Clovis Bray… I’m home…”

    “Home?” Ash asked as she walked up to stand beside her, “I still don’t quite understand. Your home in your previous life was here?”

    “Look.” Ana reached down to a keychain she had her belt and pulled up a card. It read CLOVIS BRAY PERSONALE and the name and face was Anastasia Bray.

    “You worked here?” Ash looked around her, “So this place was made by your dad or something?”

    “I honestly don’t know. A lot of those records were lost, and I don’t really remember.”

    “Were you hoping to find them here?”

    Ana nodded, “Yeah, it’s partly why I’m here.” The hunter turned towards the console and powered it on, “And I also want to give us Rasputin, and to work with him.”

    “Rasputin would give us eyes to the stars…” Ash mumbled as she looked out the large window, “We don’t have that right now, but isn’t a very powerful AI a bit dangerous to play with?”

    “He knows me. I taught him how to speak according to what I could find. I think we can work together.”

    Ash found herself unsure of that, but didn’t argue. She watched Ana punch in a few numbers, mumbling something about ‘now if I remember correctly’ then heard a sound of another system powering up.

    “Personal identified: Doctor Anastasia Bray.” A voice from the loudspeakers spoke to them now.  “Welcome to the Clovis Bray Facility: the fabled Cradle of Invention on Mars. You are part of an important part in History. Together, we will strive to reach beyond the stars. Remember, you are Clovis Bray.”

    It was a bit sad now hearing that voice. It sounded so hopeful, so sure they would go beyond their own solar system and colonize it, so sure of inventions such as the Exodus Black to reach their destination, only for it all to fall apart in one fell swoop. Back then, the scientists here were focused on improving and moving forward, not just on trying to make it just one more day.

    Things had certainly changed, but there was one part that stuck out to Ash. ‘You are Clovis Bray.’ What did that mean? You are the man who made this place? That sounded a bit off to her, someone who wanted to take the sole credit, someone who wanted to leave their mark in the books. That didn’t sound like a dad, it sounded like a selfish man, but perhaps she was reading too much into it.

    Well, he did his mark, but not in the way he had hoped. He was remembered for creating SIVA and Rasputin, one force that killed the Iron Lords, and another who helped to do that and who had been off the grid for Traveler only knows how long. That was not the mark on this world that anyone should leave behind.

    “And we’re in business!” Ana suddenly said and grabbed Ash’s attention from her thoughts. She looked up to see a door had opened in front of them, “I’m going to keep poking around these systems, you can go on ahead and look for Rasputin.”

    Ash only gave a quiet nod and walked through the door. Clovis Bray… SIVA… something was off here. No, there wasn’t something off, it was… familiarity? Ash never had been here before, she knew that for fact, but the name was something that echoed in the back of her skull. SIVA also pricked at her brain, trying to remind her of something, but nothing came of it. She felt a familiar sense of nausea though that came with trying to remember her first life, which caused her to shove those thoughts aside and focus on what she was doing.

    It was something that should stay forgotten anyways.

    In the next room there was a frozen pond before a model of Rasputin. It was about as tall as she was, surrounded by stairs to the next floor. It was really a pyramid whose bottom was pressed against another, with a square eye at the tip. There was probably a lot more complicated science behind it, but Ash doubted she would understand it.

    “Looks like Rasputin’s core is in a separate building. Hope you’re up for some exploring.” Ana radioed.

    “I keep getting the impression I’m not getting much of a choice.” Ash mumbled before speaking up, “Alright, I’ll start looking.”

    “Hey, you holding up ok? I know it’s a bit overwhelming, this place is massive.”

    “I’m fine.” Ash shrugged, even though Ana couldn’t see her, “I’m just getting a weird feeling that I know this place.”

    “Maybe you worked here as well?”

    Ash laughed, “Me? Work with all this sciency stuff? No way. I leave that stuff up to Cid. He knows a bunch more about that.”

    “Friend of yours?”

    “Kinda. He’s almost like my older brother in a way.”

    She walked up the stairs and out to a balcony overlooking a large fissure in the ground. The wind was bitter out here, and it blew up a bit of snow from down below. Ash shuddered a little as she quickly walked along it. She looked up and to her left to see the life sized version of Rasputin was actually nearby, and he was huge. There were other towers nearby, all full of secrets waiting to be cracked open.

    “They didn’t do small…” Ash mumbled as she walked inside again. Turning the corner, the only way forward past the break from was through an old chute on the left with a bottom covered in ice. The hunter let out a sigh as she slipped inside and pushed herself as quickly as she could through to the other side. She hoped this would be over soon; she wanted to get away from all this cold.

    This seemed to be a staff only passage. There were coils of wire still wrapped up, frozen in place, a box of metal parts strewn from someone dropping them and hightailing it out. Ash found herself watching her step as she noticed more and more things thrown to the ground as people had panicked to leave this place. She then noticed two bodies lying on the ground. They were doctors, both of them, with knives in their backs. They were murdered, perhaps the night of the Collapse?

    Ash knelt down and turned one over, cringing at the sight of their rotted faces. Though the ice had slowed down the decaying process, these bodies had seen far better days. This one was a man, and other was a woman. The name tag was still legible: Davis Kolestov. Ash turned the other one over, and her tag read: Natalie Kolestov. Married. Ash didn’t know how she knew that, but she did. That sense of nausea came back as the name Kolestov pricked at the back of her head, trying to get her brain to remember what her spirit endured…

    She shook her head and quickly left the bodies behind. She was wasting time, and she didn’t want to remember.

    Up another small flight of stairs and around anther corner she walked onto a platform with a warsat sitting on it. This one had been cracked open for repairs, but it was never finished. She looked over to see the ladder had long since broken off, and she could hear a very familiar sound of hissing and grumbles.

    “Hey Ana, looks like the Hive are here. I’ll bet they’re on their way to Rasputin.” Ash quietly radioed.

    “On it. Let me try to access the security systems. Should make life a bit easier.”

    Ash crouched down as she watched one come inside on the floor below. This was a trick straight out of Sarah’s book, and it was simple for a hunter. She waited until the Acolyte was just below the edge before dropping down on its shoulders. Before it could let out a shriek, she cut its throat and got off of it. She then hid behind a corner and peered out to see that there were more of them in an open area. She noticed a body was slumped behind some crates. Perhaps some poor fool hid behind it hoping to be spared.

    She reached for her gun and ran out into the open. The two acolytes went down with little trouble, but what caught her attention was the knight. She unsheathed her sword as it came at her with a weapon and shield made of Ice.  Her sword met the Knight’s, managing to imbed itself part way into the crudely made weapon. It suddenly swung upwards, taking the sword and Ash with it, and flung the Hunter up and back down on the steel floor. Ash just barely managed to roll away from it pounding its shield down to kill her, and in that time she took out her gun and shot the creature in the head. It shattered into thousands of shards, and it dropped the weapon so Ash could get her sword out of it.

    “How are those security systems working? Don’t tell me you had no access to them.” Ash radioed as she managed to pull her sword out. She ran up to where a lift sat with its cords broken. She was just able to make the jump up to where it once lifted people and onto the next floor, closer and closer to Rasputin.

    “I’m working on it. I don’t think being frozen for centuries was very kind to it.” Ana replied. Ash let out a sigh as she heard more Hive milling about around the corner. She peeked around to see it was only little ones, not a huge problem to deal with.

    “So Ana,” Ash talked while she shot at the Thrall, “Do you have any memories at all of this place?”

    “Nothing. I know some Guardians have some sense of memory of their past lives, but not me.”

    “Why are you out here by yourself? Got any friends that could’ve helped?” Ash jumped up into the air and shot another Acolyte as she spoke.

    “Well, there is Carmine, but I didn’t want to get her in trouble. As far as the tower knows, I’m dead. It’s better if it stays that way.”

    “Carmine? Don’t think I’ve heard that name before.”

    “She’s a newly risen Guardian. She’s… uh… my girlfriend.”

    Ash stopped mid way through putting her gun away when she heard that, “Wait, you have a girlfriend? Awwww!” The hunter started grinning ear to ear, “That’s so cute!”

    “H-Hey, can we get back to murdering things…?”

    “When was the last time you talked to her?! Seriously now I get the feeling you haven’t talked to her in a while and she’s probably worried sick!”

    “Ash, can you please focus?”

    “You better tell me more about her later!” Ash giggled as she jumped on an old platform suspended by cables. It curved its way upwards to the next floor, but when she got close to the top, her bubbly mood dissipated hearing the Hive. She crouched down when she got to the top and peered over to a lower level where she had to be. It was swarming with knights, wizards, and even a ogre, all of them of a higher caliber.

    “Um, I got a big problem here….” Ash radioed.

    “Come on Rasputin! Give me something here!” Ana shouted and Ash could hear her give the terminal a good kick out of frustration. She bit her lower lip as she tried to think of a way to take down all of the without being horribly murdered. She knew the risks of fighting the Hive, and she wasn’t willing to die permanently over this, or end up as one of those void crystals Xyer made, or be tortured for information… or worse….

    The next thing that happened was quick, and if Ash blinked she would’ve missed it. They stood around a square, seemingly trying to investigate it. There was suddenly this red energy in the air, shaped like wires, cords, weaved together in ever changing patterns. It suddenly came together at the spot in the middle of the square and burst into a powerful explosion, shattering the frozen hive in a mere amount of seconds. What remained there was a weapon in the shape of a javelin with both ends sharpened and surrounded by the red energy.

    “What… what was that….?” Ash asked as she hopped down to where it was.

    “It’s… the Valkyrie…. Rasputin’s weapon. I think he heard us!” Ana told her. Ash walked across the shards of ice in the steel floor to the weapon. It quietly floated there, as if it was telling her to take it, and crush her enemies with it.

    Swallowing back her nerves, she grabbed hold of the weapon, and suddenly felt a power surge through her. It was as if it was in tune with her light, singing the same songs of war. The door opened beside her, and she could see the thrall already rushing her. Not knowing what else to do, she threw it at them, and it exploded in more of the energy, shattering the Hive once more. She then felt it manifest back in her hand, as it was called back to her light.

    She started to grin, “Ohohoho… oh this is going to be fun.”

    She ran head first into the swarm that was waiting for her. She leaped up into the air above some acolytes and slammed it down. As she came down, she felt that energy surrounding her, protecting her, and when it hit the ground, it burst, shattering more those Hive. She leaped up and threw it at another smaller crowd as she fought her was up. A knight rushed her, and she stabbed the Valkyrie right through its chest, and only a moment later it burst with that same energy. As shards rained down she turned around and threw it at a wizard who was trying to shoot her. She heard the marching of more Hive behind her, and once the Valkyrie was back in her hand she whirled around, slashing the knights and then bringing it down in a slam, making the energy around her burst and murder more of them.

     She felt her heart racing out of her chest, exhilaration and adrenaline pumping through her veins. She always had been a junkie for a good fight, but she never experienced anything quite like this. She could feel the Valkyrie’s power slowly fading though, and was a bit saddened that this was a temporary thing. She could see another one just up ahead in front of locked doors, just in case it ran out before she could deal with the danger. There were two Hive knights left now, both of them rather strong looking. Ash leaped up in the air and threw the Valkyrie down into its head, causing him to burst, but as she hit the ground, she noticed that it didn’t come back to her. It left her with a lot of light, but she could feel that she was no longer in sync with it. It mattered little though, as it gave her enough light that she could fire her golden gun into the last one’s head, and there was finally silence. She watched as the extra Valkyrie disappeared, now that there was no longer a need for it.

    The doors in front of her opened quite suddenly and she could see down a long walkway the entrance into Rasputin’s core.

    “Hey, nice job getting the door open.” Ash commented.

    “That… wasn’t me.” Ana nervously answered.

    Ash looked up as she heard a sound coming from inside that core. She reached up and took off her mask, pulling back her hood as she looked up at it. Did she… impress it?

    “I uh… I think he’s inviting us inside…”

    “I think so too. Maybe this is where questions start turning into answers. I’ll be there in a minute, just stay put.”

   Now that she was calm and thinking again, Ash was having some serious second thoughts about meeting this AI. This was supposively the most powerful AI in the system, but if it wasn’t keen on helping them, then it could cause a disaster. Rasputin could very easily destroy their enemies, or destroy the city. She felt so small compared to this thing, and even from out here she could feel how much energy was inside. Until they knew for sure if it was friendly or not she couldn’t trust it, and how could they ever know for sure?

    “What am I doing?” she mumbled as she closed her eyes and shook her head. Chie came out of hiding and she quietly handed her the mask to place back into transmat. It didn’t feel right making such a big decision without her friends here helping to make it. Rasputin changed so much, for good and for bad. She could see both in doing this…

    Zavala was right to fear it, and now Ash was starting to wonder if it was a good idea.

    “Ash… I don’t know about this.” Chie squeaked nervously.

    “I know.” The Hunter sighed as her shoulders fell, “I’d kinda would like a few other opinions here, ya know?”

    “That Valkyrie is powerful no doubt about it.” Chie added as she flew to be between Ash and the door, “But this is a self thinking AI, and it may have changed over these years, just like Failsafe. But while Failsafe just got a uh… emotional mode, I can only imagine what Rasputin went through and what changed him. Some people come out better after things like that, others not so much.”

    Ash found herself chewing on her lower lip. It didn’t feel right either way to go any further, not without the people she cared the most about. As she stared at the door, possibilities floated in an out of her mind, both horrible and wonderful. They were chaotic little things, all laced with uncertainty, and until she was with people she knew and trusted fully, she couldn’t bring herself to go any closer.

    “That’s a lot of shattered ice.” Ana commented behind her. Ash tuned around to face her, Chie quickly coming to her side. Ana was smiling so bright, not a trace of fear in her, as she looked at Rasputin’s core, “I can’t believe I’m finally here…”

    “I don’t know about this Ana…” Ash shook her head, “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”

    “Come on Ash, we’ve gotten this far! We should at least see him!” Ana walked up to the hunter who was quickly backing down from this idea.

    “Yeah, and then what? He’s going to want something. If we help him, we could either have a powerful ally, or be destroyed.”

    “He’s going to help, I know for sure…”

    “You don’t know for sure!” Ash shook her head, standing on the balls of her feet to make herself a bit taller as she argued with the other, “No one knows for sure! This decision is bigger than the two of us! I get that this is part of your history but…!”

    “No one else is going to let us do this! This is important! This could turn everything around for us, for humanity!”

    “Do you think maybe there’s a good reason why? Look, there’s a chance you might be right, but might is not enough for me to pull the trigger and say let’s do this.”

    “Ash, seriously! Imagine what help Rasputin could be! You felt his power!”

    “I know that, but imagine what harm he can be! It’s been centuries Ana, why hasn’t he helped us before? You can’t be putting all of the cards on the fact he was made by your old family. For all you know, they were making a weapon of mass destruction to control things. For all you know, the Rasputin you think you knew has changed and isn’t what you think it is!”

    “My family was trying to help humanity, and I intend on doing that!” Ana stepped closer to her, towering over the shorter hunter, but Ash wouldn’t back down.

    “If you really intend on doing that, then you’ll stop for a minute and think about how badly this can go if just the two of us do this! You have something to lose, don’t you?! You don’t want Carmine to be hurt because we made a dumbass decision!”

    Ana’s face turned fierce, “Don’t you drag her into this.”

     “I will, because I have something to lose too, and until those people are with us making the decision whether or not to help this thing, I’m not setting foot in there.” Ash pointed right at the door and then back at the hunter scowling at her.

    “Fine then.” Ana turned on her heel to face the door, “But I’m going in there!”

    “No you’re not!” Ash shouted as Ana ran towards the door. The hunter took off right on her heels, trying to grab her wrist and stop her, “Ana! Ana stop! ANASTASIA STOP!”

    As Ana got close, the doors slid open for them. What was behind it was not at all what they expected. Commander Zavala stood there with a stern look on his face, staring down both of them. Both Hunters stopped in their tracks seeing him there. Ash’s face went from a glare to being downright confused.

    “Hello Ash, Anastasia.” Zavala looked at both of them as he spoke.

    “Oh sh…anks…” Ana’s shoulders slumped as she was finally caught.

    “You, wha… huh…?” Ash pointed at him, then Rasputin, then looked around, trying to figure out how Zavala got in there in the first place, “H-How did you…?”

     “What do you two think you’re doing?” Zavala took a step towards them, making Ash back away quickly, putting her hands up and she started to stutter.

    “H-Hey listen big blu- I mean Zavala, we can talk about this you know, hahaha… uh listen I realize this was a bad idea…”

    “Don’t punish Ash for this. I dragged her along.” Ana stepped in between the two, stopping Ash from backing up, “I asked her for help because I was in trouble and then dragged her into this mess. If you were listening at all, she was trying to stop me from going in there.”

    “I understand that, but she should have stopped you a while back.” Zavala sternly looked at the hunter behind Ana, “But that’s a discussion for another time.”

    “Listen, I still don’t get how you got here…” Ash piped up, feeling nerves eating away at her.

    “Yeah,” Ana motioned to the door behind him, “What were you trying to do to Rasputin?”

    “Rasputin is Vanguard business Anastasia! Not yours!” Zavala raised his voice a little to her. He was now scowling right at the woman, and Ash noted he seemed a lot more furious with Ana than her. “Neither of you belong here!”

    “I beg your pardon?!” Ana shouted back, getting a bit closer to be in his face. Ash found herself looking for any sort of convenient exit. Normally she was a fan of fights, but this wasn’t one she wanted to witness. This felt different. This wasn’t Sarah being mad at Hawthorne for her insults, this ran deeper than that. It was an old swirl of bad blood between the two, and threatening to get ugly.

    “You belonged in the city! You faked your death to chase after this fantasy! Instead of standing by your brothers and sister when the Black Garden was exposed, when Crota was going attack us, when Oryx came pounding at our door, when SIVA was threatening to run rampant, when Ghaul attacked the city, you were HERE! Doing what you always do! What you’re not supposed to do!”

    “Guys, please…” Ash moved to be beside both of them, trying to find a way to defuse the fight. She was usually the one causing them, so figuring out how to defuse one was difficult. She was wishing a lot more now that the others were here. They were better at this sort of thing.

    “I did what I believed was right!” Ana shouted back. “I came here to protect humanity! Isn’t that what being a Guardian is about?!”

    There was silence for a moment. Ash watched as the two stared each other down before Ana turned towards the last door between her and the AI. She took a step towards it, eyes ever curious, ever wondering…

    “This is a war of many fronts,” Ana’s tone was softer, “and there’s more than one way to fight it Zavala. Look…” she turned back towards him, “You try to shield the entire world, but you can’t. There’s got to be a better way.”

    “And you think Rasputin’s the answer?” Zavala stepped to be beside Ana. Their gazes turned back to the door, “It’s gone silent. It’s a broken weapon, too dangerous to be left alone yet too unpredictable to wield.”

    “That might be true, or maybe he just has nothing to say. Maybe, just maybe, we never bothered to ask him what he wanted.” Ana suggested which caused both Zavala to shake his head.

    “I don’t have time to go through this with you again. You have no right-!”

    “I have every right.” Ana glared right at him, “You don’t understand the connection I have with Rasputin.”

    Ash was about to comment ‘Neither do I’ as a way to defuse the tension, but a sound caught all of their attentions. They all looked up as ground trembled a bit beneath their feet, and strange moan echoed throughout the place.

    “Ok, before anything happens,” Ash finally spoke up, “We need to figure out what the fuck that is.”

    “I can tell you.” Zavala said, grabbing their attention.

    Ash’s face turned into a glare. What more did their commander hide from them? “The fuck is on this planet Zavala?”

    “Rasputin wasn’t the only thing to wake up on Mars.”

* * * *

    “A what now?”

    “A Worm Go-.”

    “No, I heard what he said.”

    Back in the main room of the facility, Ash was finally clued in as to what was making the ground shake. Along with the Hive frozen here, it seemed that one of their Gods had also been laying dormant. With the awakening of the Traveler, and the breaking glaciers, Xol: Worm of a Thousand Wills, was able to awaken once more.

    “A worm god?!” Ash shouted at Zavala, “Are you fucking kidding me?! There is a WORM GOD on this hunk of rock!?”

    “There is, and now it’s a major threat.” Zavala confirmed.

    “And you didn’t think maybe, juuuuuust maybe you should’ve mentioned this sooner? You know, when the ice started breaking? Or maybe after Cid and company took down Oryx? Hm?”

   Ana sighed a little, deciding to hold her tongue while she fiddled with the terminals again. She already had dug a deep enough hole, she didn’t need to bury herself in it. At the very least if she stayed quiet and let Ash yell at him a bit for being an idiot (in Ana’s mind) she could get some other systems up and running again without being bothered.

    “It wasn’t important after Oryx was defeated, and we were far too busy after Ghaul’s defeat to do anything about Xol. He is a Worm God, Ash. You must understand that Oryx was no easy feat, so Xol will not be either.”

    “Well needless to say I’m not taking on this asshole alone.” Ash shook her head, “I need my fireteam. I need Alex, Cid, Sarah, and Gale.”

    “Of course, it will be arranged.”

    Ana raised her brows a little hearing those names. None of them were familiar to her, but perhaps this was the family she was talking about. Those people, those names, were so precious to Ash that she didn’t want to risk making a monumental decision without them in fear they would be badly affected. If they were there, they might’ve actually overruled Zavala and helped Rasputin if they thought it was a good idea. It wasn’t so much that Ash was afraid to mess up, she was afraid to mess up without them, and for them to bear the consequences of what she did.

    She let out a small yelp as she hit a button and suddenly there was a shift in the wall. A panel moved out of the way, revealing a scanner. The screen on the wall they thought was dead, suddenly flickered on. Zavala and Ash whirled around to see what was going on.

    “What did you do now?!” Zavala raised his voice a little.

    “What do you mean, what did I do now?!” Ana shouted back.

    “Personal scan system now fully operational!” The voice chimed through the speakers, “Scanning personal…”

    A red light came out and scanned Ana’s face. As it shut off, the screen beside it flashed SEARCHING before Ana’s old profile came up. It read: LINGUIST: DOCTOR ANASTASIA BRAY. It showed a photo of her with longer hair and the collar made it look like she was wearing a lab coat. It listed her sex, gender, age, height, weight, specialty, and relations. She was related to Clovis Bray, Angela Bray, and Elsie Bray.

    “Welcome Doctor Anastasia Bray! You are approximately 360 years late to the Rasputin Board meeting.” It chimed.

    “Least it knows it’s been centuries.” Ash shrugged as she walked up to stand beside Ana and read the info better, “Definitely not a true AI though.”

    “New person detected!” Ash found herself a bit startled when it spoke up, “Please hold still for scan!”

    She watched the red light scan over her and found herself rubbing her eyes. The light was a lot brighter when shone directly into her face. There was another message that said SEARCHING over top of Ana’s profile. It suddenly gave out an error message: IMPOSSIBLE.

    “Wait, what?” Ana started to say before it spoke.

    “Error: person identified is said to be confirmed dead. Please notify the authorities, and allow for changes to be made.”

    The profile suddenly loaded, and Ash was looking at her own face. Her hair was down, covering one eye, staring into the camera. There were signs of bruising on her face, her brown eyes seemed so tired… so dead. The name was Geneva Kolestov and it had her exact proportions. 5’3, 130lbs, and she was designated as ‘Staff Child’ and Deceased. She was only 19 years old, younger than most Guardians when they died. Her eyes widened a little more when she saw the names of who were her parents.

    Davis and Natalie Kolestov, the two bodies she found on the way to Rasputin.

    “Ash…?” Ana asked, her face turning into one of concern.

    Ash didn’t answer. She started to feel a headache form as memories she repressed started to come through. Memories that were faded by her first death, and her not wanting to remember, now had a doorway to trickle through. She didn’t want to remember, she felt her stomach churn as an angry voice now yelling about SIVA seemed to come back to her…

    “Hey! Bring up Davis and Natalie’s profiles!” Ana shouted at the AI, wanting answers, assuming Ash wanted answers as well.

    “Ana! You shouldn’t…!” Zavala started to protest as he came to stand beside Ash, but it was already too late. The message of Searching came back up before both profiles were loaded up. There were their faces before they had rotted, right in front of Ash to see. Ash felt her heart racing as she looked at them, and not in a good way. She recognized them, but instead of a fondness in her heart, all she felt was fear. Her hands started to tremble a little as she started to read the profiles. What really stood out was in the specialization part, there was a large red TERMINATED on both of them.

_I don’t want to remember. I don’t want to remember. I don’t want to remember. I…_

    “Terminated, why?” Ana asked. She didn’t realize the AI would answer, and before she could stop it, the screen pulled up a news article. HIKER FOUND YOUNG GIRL IN RAVINE IN THE MOUNTAINS. PARENTS CONFESS TO MURDER.

    Ash felt the entire world come to a stop reading that. For a moment everything froze in place as a ringing started in her ears. Her brain felt like it was full of static, trying so desperately to change the channel, the thought process, but falling helplessly into the memory that should not have been brought back into the light.

    Fear was next as everything around her was tuned out and the memory was thrust at her. Her body seemed to not be her own as it all played out before her eyes. She sunk to the ground, and she could feel someone grab onto her as she did so. Ana? Zavala? Someone else? She couldn’t really tell in that moment. They were trying to talk to her, but nothing seemed to get past all of the noise, the fear, the memory she was trapped in.

    “Ash! You need to breathe! Come back to us!” Ana shouted at her. They could see the girl had gone a ghostly white. They could see how she trembled, seemed to struggle to get a proper breath, her eyes staring into nothing as she fell further into the rabbit hole Ana had unintentionally opened up. Chie came out of hiding and tried to get her attention, nuzzling, and asking for her to come out of whatever this was.

    “Give me a moment to contact her fireteam. I believe they will be more suited for this.” Zavala instructed, “Keep an eye on her in the mean time.”

    Ana couldn’t help but wonder what was going through the Hunter’s mind. She could hardly believe that in that day and age, filicide was still a thing. They killed their own daughter. It must be hell living through that: parents whom you thought loved you and you were supposed to trust turning their backs on you and hurting you instead.

    Ana started to realize what Ash meant. Putting your cards on a family you couldn’t even remember wasn’t ideal. After all, they could be horrible people like Natalie and Davis who murdered their own children. It wasn’t like she had personal logs of anyone except Elsie, and they make no mention of Clovis either.

    This was a result of curiosity, of digging up something that shouldn’t be found. Ana bit her lower lip, learning now the hard way of what curiosity could do to not only her, but someone else. It wasn’t Ash who asked for the profile, Ana did. It wasn’t Ash who asked why they were terminated, Ana did. This was her fault. She reminded the Hunter of how she died.

    If Rasputin turned out to be a homicidal maniac instead of a saviour, all of the deaths would be on her, no one else, other than Rasputin. All because she was curious, all because she put too much faith in the past, all because of that blind loyalty to a family she didn’t even remember, and now she questioned if she should put so much faith into.

    “I’m so sorry Ash…” Ana mumbled as she tried to comfort the girl.


	5. Old Habits, Old Memories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oof

    The hangars were unusually quiet. Six guardians and Holiday were all sitting around a radio, tapping their fingers, worrying and waiting. There had been no news from Zavala or Ash, and they were beginning to wonder about them.

    “Do… do you think something happened on Mars?” Gale quietly asked, thinking back to her dream.

    “There’s…” Sarah sighed a little, crossing her arms over her chest, “I just… get this feeling something’s wrong. I don’t know what it is, but I feel like something isn’t right.”

    “Maybe we should go after her?” Alexander’s ghost suggested for his guardian.

    “You know you’re going to get there and she’s gonna laugh at you because we’re overreacting, right?” Cayde asked, trying to lighten the mood.

    “I’d rather that, then to not go and find out we could’ve saved her from something awful.” Cid stood up a bit straighter.

    “You best get going then. I get a funny feeling about this as well.” Ikora instructed.

    “We’ll get you loaded up quick.” Holiday slid off of the crate she was sitting on, “I hope this turns out to be nothing…”

    As they all started to walk to the ships, the radio they had been crowded around suddenly roared to life. They all stopped dead in their tracks, turning back towards it when they heard their commander’s voice.

    “Cayde? Are you there?” he asked.

    “Right here big blue. Where the hell have you been?!” Cayde asked  as he walked back with no sense of humor in his voice.

    “Where is Sarah? Is she there? Or Gale, or Alexander, or Cid, any one of them will do.”

    “Not gonna answer my question….” Cayde sighed as Sarah pushed her way up to the front.

    “What the fuck is going on Zavala?” Sarah asked in a stern tone.

    “I will tell you later. I need you to help me calm Ash down.”

    Everyone suddenly became far more alert at Ash’s name. Sarah’s eyes widened a little, her worries starting to become validated.

    “Why?! What happened to her?!” Sarah shouted, worry lacing her voice.

    “I believe some old memories that should’ve stayed buried. She needs a familiarity right now, even if just a voice. She needs you.”

    “What the hell are you waiting for?! Put her on!” Sarah raised her voice a bit more, but everyone knew it was because she was just worried. A moment later they heard a new voice, trying to talk to Ash and calm her down. Ash was dead silent, which only made Sarah fret even more.

    “Ash? Are you there?” Sarah asked gently. She put one hand over the other and started to squeeze it, trying to rid herself of the tension. There was a moment of silence before a small, terrified voice spoke.

    “S….Sarah…?” Ash managed to say.

    “It’s me. I’m right here. We’re all right here.” Sarah tried to assure her.

    “Sarah… it… I… remember….”

    “Remember what…?” Sarah asked as squeezed her own hand a little tighter.

    “It… they… I…” Ash’s voice grew shaky as she tried to tell her what she saw. “I remember… how I… I died… th-the first time. And… I….” Sarah heard a sniffle before hearing Ash burst into tears. “Oh my light Sarah I didn’t want to remember this! It hurt! It hurt! They killed me! I remember now! Why did they do that?! I didn’t want to die! I didn’t want to die! I gave them everything they wanted…!”

    “Ash! Listen! You have to breathe ok? In and out, we’ll do it together alright. In…”

    Sarah took a deep breath in, and she could hear the sound being repeated through the radio. It seemed she was far more willing to listen to Sarah than to Ana and Zavala. They stood there for a moment, breathing in an out together, and it was working. She was calming down. Ash’s sobs quieted down to sniffles slowly but surely.

    “There, does that feel a bit better now?” Sarah asked gently. This was the most gentle they’ve ever seen Sarah. Usually when she was trying mom people she was yelling at them, but this was different.

    “Y-Yeah…” Ash answered as she sniffled.

    “Listen, I’ll be there on the double, alright? We’ll all be if you want.”

    “That won’t be necessary.” Zavala spoke up, “I’ll be escorting her home. This place isn’t safe, and perhaps things would be better if she was somewhere she knew.”

    Sarah sighed a little, “Alright, fly fast Zavala. I’m being serious. You’ve got us worried to death over here.”

    The radio cut off and Sarah’s shoulders slumped. She put both hands on the radio as she felt the same weight as everyone else did. Sarah had never heard Ash sob like that. She never heard her so terrified in her life. Whatever memories were dug up were awful, awful things.

   “Her first death…?” Ghost translated for Alexander, “They killed her? Who is she talking about?”

   “The only way to find out is to ask.” Cid mused, “I’ve never seen her like this though…”

    “I’m not leaving this damn hangar until she shows up.” Sarah stood up straight and turned around to see everyone, “You might as well point me to where they’re going to be landing.”

    “Over this way.” Holiday motioned in a direction. Everyone silently followed.

* * * *

    Ash was silent all the way back to earth. Normally Zavala didn’t mind the quiet, but when it was such a lively Hunter who was quiet, something was very wrong.

    He remembered yelling at Shaxx the next day for opening the door to the outside. It was an emergency thing only and he should’ve gone through him and the speaker first. The two Titans argued back and forth until Cayde came in with the new girl. They both stopped dead and looked over. She was such a small thin woman, and she looked so young. She couldn’t have been any older and 20 when she died. (And apparently she wasn’t) It was clear she was nervous, skittish, trying to adjust to her surroundings after wandering in the cold all alone.

   Shaxx had walked right up to her and knelt down to assure her again. Zavala threw aside his anger to also make the hunter feel at home. She seemed to appreciate it, even though she still hardly spoke a word. Slowly they would witness her coming out of her shell, and shaping up into one of the finest Hunters Zavala had ever seen.

    But even the best fell down sometimes, and needed some help getting back up.

    “… I don’t suppose you’re in the mood to chat?” Zavala asked, trying to alleviate the tension in the air. He looked to his right to Ash who was curled up in a small ball. She had her face buried in her knees with her arms wrapped around her legs. She looked up a bit to see Zavala when she answered.

    “Not really. But you want to ask me something, don’t you? You never talk to me except to ask me stuff or tell me to do something.”

    It was true. They hardly spoke to one another. There was no reason to. The last time before the Red War they spoke it was Zavala scolding her for one of her pranks. She ignored him as per usual, but it did give Zavala a need for a pause before speaking again.

    “I… yes.” Zavala sighed.

    “What is it Zavala?”

    He found himself biting down a bit on his inner lip. Hunters usually call him by ‘Big Blue’ because of Cayde, Ash included. As much as he hated that nickname, hearing Ash call him by his name didn’t sound right at all.

    “What… do you think of Rasputin?”

    Ash seemed to think for a moment, “I’m… somewhere in between you two. I think he can help us, he has the potential to work with us, but he can also destroy us. He’s an AI, self thinking, has his own agenda, has his own feelings. He was created to protect humanity sure, but that might have changed. He’s been on his own for so long now, he might have a new perspective of what he’s lived through. We won’t know unless we talk to him though, and I wasn’t ready to speak to him alone.”

    “I… I see.” Zavala mused.

    “Why do you ask Zavala?”

    “…curiosity.”

    Truthfully it was because he was starting to question just how old and jaded he was. The fight between Alexander and himself still hung at the back of his mind and the Titan blew a hole in what he had always believed. Ash was cementing that old belief that the past should still be buried, but she believed there might be a chance Rasputin could help them and that the only way to know is to find out. Was he really turning into a stubborn old man now? His beliefs were there for a reason, but things changed. Ever since Titan, he had begun to question his own position. He could tell himself that he would not fail again, that he would be better…

    But the fact Ikora hid from him what she was doing trying to save her old mentor was proof that his stubbornness and beliefs were getting in the way. He couldn’t even be angry with her. For how long had he hid the fact he knew where Rasputin’s core mind was? How long had he hid the fact that Xol was there?

    Perhaps it may be time soon to let go. It might be time to pass the torch to someone else, to a new generation of Guardians, to a group who saw the world with a fresh set of eyes.

    The ship entered earth’s atmosphere and quickly came to the City and the Traveler. The hangar bays opened up and allowed for the ship to land. As soon as it was on the ground, he found himself feeling a little safer, a little at ease. The key word was little though, as it was hard to feel completely safe when someone busted down your walls and took everything from you.

    As he opened the cockpit, he turned to Ash who hadn’t budged. She didn’t seem to want to move, content with sitting in the passenger seat like this.

    “Come now…” Zavala extended a hand to her, “We’re home now. I’m sure Sarah is worried about you.”

    The mention of Sarah caught Ash’s attention. Without another word she reached over to Zavala’s hand and let him pull her out of her position. Standing up now she felt him gently grab under her arm and lifted them both down to the ground. There she could see all of her friends waiting for her along with Amanda and the Vanguard, and they very clearly worried. Sarah was at the front, clutching her hands together. Once Ash’s feet were touching the ground she didn’t hesitate. She ran right for Sarah, who opened her arms to catch the hunter. Sarah felt Ash squeezing her so tight, and could hear her begin to weep. The hunter held on firmly in return, promising silently that she wouldn’t leave.

    Ash then felt the others joining in on their hug. She could feel past the void energy the gentle pulse of Arc, and the calm heat of Sol as they all held her and tried to comfort her.

    “Come on…” Sarah gently told her, “Let’s go somewhere quieter.”

    Ash nodded and everyone let go. Sarah shifted to have one arm around the hunter as they all left the hangars, leaving the Vanguard and Amanda behind. They all walked in silence to a quiet part of the wall to where some couches had been set up. Ash seemed content to sit on them and lean on Sarah while the others sat close. No one said a word, no one asked. Ash would speak when she was ready. For now she seemed content sitting with Sarah who was running her hand up and down her arm.

    This was a familiar spot. Ikora had been with them at one point plotting out how they would take down Panoptes. They hadn’t really been back here since, but for times like this where they didn’t want to walk to the dorms, this was perfect. Hardly anyone went by here, it was comfortable, and they could all sit around each other. The Light between all of them mingled, softly comforting the small hunter in their familiarity.

    Yes, this what Ash knew. This was the family that was there no matter what. Not the one of the past, the one of the present, and hopefully the future.

    “…Sarah…?” Ash mumbled after a while.

    “Yeah?” she replied as everyone sat up a bit straighter, giving Ash their attention.

    “Have you… have you met parents who are… bad? Do they… do they still love their kids?”

    Sarah bit her lower lip at the question, “It… depends on what you mean, I guess. If you mean bad as in they’re a criminal, well they could still love their kids half to death and do all they can for them. If you mean bad as in they abuse their kid well, that’s just fucking awful. As far as I’m concerned, if you beat the shit out of your kids, you don’t love them and you don’t fucking deserve them. You can say you love them all you want, but nothing justifies abusing your kids. Nothing.” Sarah took a deep breath, afraid to ask her next question but felt the need to, “Why do you ask…?”

    Ash felt Sarah’s hand stop moving and instead giving her arm a gentle squeeze, which helped Ash give her answer, “B…because mine… in my first life… they killed me. They’re the reason I died.”

    There was a beat of dead silence. Ash could feel the light around her go from calm to furious. She could see Alexander glaring holes into the floor as he clasped his hands together, she could see Gale’s hands balling up into fists, she could see Cid’s bad hand twitching and she could feel Sarah grow tense. It was a rather extreme change of mood, but perhaps it was testament to how much the hunter was loved.

    “How… dare they.” Sarah hissed.

    “Guys… they’re dead. I found their bodies on Mars.” Ash piped up. They all seemed half ready to get up and go murder them if there was any chance they were still alive. Her words seemed to calm them down, thankfully.

    “I hope they’re still burning in hell.” Ghost hissed as his Guardian spoke.

    “Ash, I’m so sorry…” Gale finally spoke up, giving her such a gentle look, “You don’t deserve that.”

    “What I don’t get is why…?” Ash mumbled, “Are… aren’t family supposed to love you no matter what? I didn’t… I didn’t do anything…”

    “I’m sure you didn’t do anything wrong. Nothing could’ve warranted that response.” Cid shook his head, “That doesn’t sound like unconditional love to me, that sounds like murder. Parents don’t kill their own children, murderers and psychopaths do.”

    “I remember all I wanted was to go out with friends. Then that bitch lost that stupid file and… and…” Ash started to get choked up again. She felt Sarah’s other arm reaching over and holding her close. She certainly appreciated the comfort. Everyone else shifted to be a bit closer, a silent way of telling her that they would never do that to her, and so long as they were needed, they would be there.

    “Hey… it’s over now ok? That was a long time ago. They’re gone, and you’re here. You were given another chance.” Sarah gently reminded her. Ash gave a small nod. It certainly made her appreciate this life more, and appreciate this little family she found.

    There was silence between all of them, but it was a comfortable one now. There was nothing left to say on the subject at the moment, just a heavy air and taking comfort in each other’s presence. But there was still something to be done though. Something that crossed Ash’s mind…

    “Someone needs to see Zavala… there’s still that… that thing on Mars.” Ash suddenly piped up.

    “Thing? What thing?” Gale asked.

    “It’s… where do I begin? I got called there by Ana Bray…”

    “Waitwaitwait, Ana Bray?! She’s been missing for over a century! We thought her dead!” Cid raised a hand to his head as he looked at her in confusion.

    “Yeah, she failed to mention that. Anyways she sends me a distress signal, I go down and there’s a bunch of frozen Hive everywhere. Next thing I know the Warmind Rasputin is giving me an awesome weapon to kill them all with. Ana wants to go in and talk with the dangerous AI and I got stubborn in saying no. Then all the sudden Zavala shows up and says no way in hell and then decided to tell us ‘oh by the way, there’s a worm god on this planet.”

    “A what?” Cid’s face turned from confusion to stern.

    “A worm go-.”

    “No, I heard what you said.” Cid stood up, “I’m going to fucking kill Zavala, I swear to the Light. A Worm God?! A Hive Worm God?!”

    “Cid, he probably didn’t know about it until recently…” Alexander tried to assure him.

    “No he can go rip his face off. Apparently he knew about it for a long time and the fact that Rasputin’s core is also on Mars, go figure.”Ash smiled a little seeing Cid riled up. This felt a lot more normal, and it allowed her to get her mind off of old memories.

    “You mean that Russian AI that has been nothing but trouble and inadvertently killed the Iron Lords with SIVA?” Cid asked.

    “He did what now?” Ash asked.

    “Yeah, that. A fragment of himself did that.”

    “And Ana wanted to run head first in there and help the guy.” Ash sighed, “She was betting on him being the good guy because her family made them. A family she doesn’t remember.”

    “If they allowed people like your parents to work there, then maybe the Brays weren’t exactly the good guys here. Besides, if you’re in a time of peace, why make such a powerful weapon?” Sarah asked.

    “That’s a good point, but we’ll have to deal with Rasputin later. We now have a worm god to worry about.” Ghost translated, “I can’t believe he didn’t tell us what was there!”

    “Ice or not, it’s still a threat.” Gale agreed as she stood up, “We should’ve dealt with it sooner.”

    “I don’t think I can help for a bit. I’m still…” Ash’s gaze fell to the floor.

    “We weren’t going to ask you to.” Gale shook her head, “You’ve done enough. Rest for a while, ok?” Ash nodded in response.

    “I’ll stay here with her.” Sarah told them, “You three go yell at Zavala for me.”

    “Oh we will, believe me.” Cid replied.

    The three of them walked back towards the Hangar. Deep down Ash wished they didn’t have to go, but knew very well that they would be back. Either way, Sarah was still here, and she knew she wasn’t going anywhere until Ash told her to.

* * * *

    “Zavala…”

    “Here it comes.”

    Ikora and Cayde were both still there, and they were less than impressed with Zavala. As soon as Cid spoke up, Cayde started to smile just a little, knowing what was going to happen next. The commander heaved a sigh as he turned towards the three Guardians who were very clearly fuming.

    “Worm God. There is a fucking worm god on that planet.” Cid sounded like he was doing everything in his power not to completely lose his temper.

    “Xol, Will of Thousands, is now awake and active on Mars, yes.” Zavala replied.

    “And you didn’t think to tell me that he was there?”

    “See big blue, you can’t be too mad at Ikora for pulling the wool over your eyes when you do stuff like this. This is kiiiinda important.” Cayde commented.

    “And not to mention if I did tell you, you would’ve stopped us and the world would’ve ended.” Ikora added, “Perhaps we need to sit down and have a discussion.”

    Another sigh came out of Zavala, “You’ve made your points. We have no more time to waste though. With Xol active, he could cause far more problems for us. We need to put him down.”

    “And just how exactly are we going to kill a Worm God? We killed Oryx, but that was by playing at his own game. Xol is not going to be easy.” Cid folded his arms across his chest as he mused.

    “How does it get around?” Gale asked.

    “It seems to fly and tunnel through the ground. He’s going to have a feeding grounds down below, so I think our best bet is to lure him with something he can’t resist.” Zavala suggested.

    “Light.” Alexander’s Ghost translated, “But what’s going to be powerful enough to draw a Worm God?”

    “I’m thinking a shard of the Traveler.”

    “…what?” Cid looked at him like he was absolutely out of his mind.

    “We take a small shard of the Traveler from the EDZ and use that as bait. When he comes, then we can launch a surprise attack on him.”

    “Oh yes, and he’ll get a bit stronger feeling himself off of the Light. Are you out of your mind?!” Cid shouted at him, “This is the big plan? Even with all five of us, that’s not enough! We need more firepower. We beat Oryx using his own powers, his own game, and I doubt Xol will make the same mistake.”

    “There’s only a couple ways to get more firepower on Mars for Xol. More Guardians, explosives, or asking Rasputin for help.” Cayde added, “I’m with Cid on this one, this isn’t one of your more well made plans. In theory it could work but our Worm God will have tricks up his sleeve. Might be good to have a Wildcard.”

    “We are not asking that thing for help.” Zavala sternly told him, “These Guardians are more than capable of defeating Xol.”

    “Zavala…” Ikora started to say, but Alexander spoke first.

    “Zavala, I can’t in good faith lead anyone through with this!” Alexander’s ghost translated, “I trust Cid’s opinion on Xol’s power, and I’m not going in there with only my fireteam. We need something else! We can’t even use explosives because the whole cave system could come down on us!”

    “You defeated Ghaul and Panoptes…” Zavala started to assure them, but Alexander shook his head.

    “That doesn’t mean anything Zavala.”

    “Zavala please,” Gale started, “This is a bad idea! I know it is! There must be another way.”

    She started to remember the dream she had. There was a worm there, a giant worm, choking her out…

    “I have full faith that the five you can, and will defeat Xol.” Zavala told them.

    Gale shook her head, “We can’t just throw an army of Guardians at these problems anymore Zavala! Wasn’t that your big idea before we found Ikora to send an army at the Almighty that would’ve killed us all? That might’ve worked back at 6 fronts, but our enemies are getting smarter, and tougher. We need something else. This thing is going to kill us!”

  Zavala knew this. It had been over a century and the Great Disaster still weighed heavily on him, but the options were limited, and he refused to take the easy way out. That was a drop into the unknown, and the City was still reeling from Ghaul. They couldn’t afford to fall into the unknown.

    “Do you have any other way Gale?” Zavala asked. Gale wanted to say something in response to that. She wanted to say ‘swallow your pride and accept the help we need’ but she couldn’t quite bring herself to. She knew of the anger that would come from that, and she wasn’t prepared for it. Instead she backed down and shifted to be closer to Cid, losing some of the self confidence she had worked hard to gain back.

    “Zavala…” Cid shook his head, “You and I both know this is going to end badly.”

    “If it become too much, we’re retreating. I don’t care what you say.” Alexander sternly told him, “And if we lose someone down there, that’s on you.”

    Zavala’s eyes shifted away a little in guilt, “I understand.”

    “Let’s go.” Alexander motioned for the other two to follow. Gale quietly shuffled behind Cid, keeping her head down and raising her hands to her chest, clasping them together.  She dared to look up at him and only saw worry directed right back at her.

    “Gale…” Cid started.

    “Not now…” Gale mumbled, even though she could feel her eyes burn a little.

* * * *

    “Zavala, this is not one of your better plans.”

    “As I’ve been told.”

    This was the first time Cid, Gale, and Alexander ever spoke to Ana Bray. They were out in the EDZ once again with sparrows to help traverse the long broken roads. This time they were heading straight towards part of the old salt mines. Instead of going through Trostland, they were going to what used to be warehouses to store the product, now full of overgrown vegetation and old cave systems.

    “I’ve got a lock on a small fragment of the Traveler.” Ghost piped up, “We’re on our way now.”

    “Good. Keep moving. The faster we get the fragment the faster we can take down Xol.” Zavala replied.

    “Hey uh… Alex, right?” Ana piped up, “Is… is Ash doing ok?”

    “She’s alright. She has Sarah, and she’s a tough girl. She’ll be ok.” Ghost translated for him.

    “Wait, what’s with the beeping?”

    “It’s a long story.”

    Alexander led the way forward over the broken bridges and crumbling stone. They had no time to explain a disability that didn’t impede them from getting the job done. As they drew closer, they could feel a familiar energy. It was as if time and space was being torn apart, ripped asunder…

    “Oh no…” Gale groaned, “They must be after it too.”

    “What is that?” Ghost asked, as he and Alexander never encountered this before.

    “Taken.” Cid replied. The valley they were going through suddenly opened up and they could see they were everywhere. They could hear the noise of the open rifts, the blights pulsing, and the cosmic creatures running rampant through the ruins of the warehouses. Alexander raised a hand to his head as they came to a stop before the infestation. He didn’t like the noise, nor the feeling of reality being split apart.

    “The Taken?!” Ana shouted, “Are they after the fragment too?!”

    “It doesn’t matter! Clear them out!” Zavala commanded.

    “I thought we fucking took care of this.” Cid hissed as he got off of the sparrow, “I hate these things.”

    “They are a fan of Light, so I suppose we shouldn’t be too surprised.” Gale sighed as she got off of her sparrow as well, “Just remember Alex, they’re like any other enemy, just creepier. Kill them as fast as you can, ok?”

    Cid found a ghost of a smile coming to his face behind his helm. Those words were very familiar. Alexander gave a nod and led the way forward. The Taken looked up and hissed seeing the Guardians rushing at them, before the Thralls started to charge at them. They were met with an assault of gunfire from the three of them as they barrelled forward.

    Alexander still had his doubts. Yes Guardians were able to take down Oryx, but this was different. They weren’t in his home territory where they could bend the rules against him. They were in ice caves on Mars, underground, with no clue what was happening. With Crota and Oryx, they had Eris to help guide them. She wasn’t here anymore though. She still was MIA, and no one had seen her. Then of course the ones who HAD dealt with Oryx before were half gone, and the one that was with him had his doubts. He hadn’t heard a thing from the other two, and perhaps it was better that way considering what they did, and what happened to Edna.

    He shot another Taken Legionary in the face. Gale was right, they were just like any enemy, just creepier. His own thoughts were able to drown out the Taken whispers. They didn’t say any important names anyways. Xyer, Xol, and Savathun were not being mentioned at all. That was fine by him, he was more than aware of those threats. At least one will be taken off the list of powerful Hive that were trying to kill them… he hoped.

    Who was he kidding? He was already thinking of how to get a Javelin down there and just murdering Xol with it despite Zavala’s orders. His main priority was getting his family in and out alive. If he had to get help from a Warmind to do it, then so be it. He didn’t care how it done so long as he didn’t lose anyone.

    The battle seemed to go on without him. He was still fighting the Taken, still destroying their blights, but he didn’t really feel like he was a part of it. His mind was swirling about with thoughts while his body just kept fighting without it. It wasn’t the first time he felt like this, but it wasn’t good to lose focus. He turned to look at Gale who was tearing through them with a Stormtrance, Cid carved up a large Taken with his Dawnblade before smashing another blight with a blast of fire. There wasn’t a doubt they were powerful individuals, but how did it scale to Xol? It was hard to say.

    There was finally silence. Ghost came out of hiding and started to scan the area, trying to find the shard once more. He could hear the other two coming up to him and turned a little to face them.

    “I’ve got a path to the Shard mapped out, but there’s something wrong. I’m getting weird readings.” Ghost chirped.

    “Want to bet the Taken are there?” Cid asked.

    “Don’t need to.” Ghost translated, “Pretty easy to guess that they are.”

    “Perhaps Savathun is after a bit of extra power as well.” Gale suggested. They could all agree with that theory. Without another word they began to follow Ghost into a cave system. It seemed that the shard was already affecting the plant life as it gently glowed.

    “Zavala, assuming this bait plan works, how do you expect to defeat Xol without Rasputin?” Ana suddenly asked through the radio.

    “I will not have this discussion again.” Zavala coldly dismissed her.

    “I can tell you without a doubt that Rasputin is the only way we’ll beat Xol. We need the Valkyrie!”

    “We’ve faced and triumphed over impossible odds before, without Rasputin.”

    “My main goal is getting my team out alive, no matter what means I have to take.” Alexander practically hissed (somehow) those words. Ghost was kinder when he translated it.

    “Alexander do not-!” Zavala started to shout at him, but he cut him off.

    “In theory Ana, what would it take to get a Javelin down there?”

    “You can’t, that’s not how it works. The better way would be to put the shard out near a node where we can power up the Valkyrie and then when comes up, we slam him with it.” Ana explained.

    “We’re not doing it either way.” Zavala protested.

    “And who’s going to stop me? You?” Alexander asked, “Look I’m all for fighting Xol, but we need every advantage we can get.”

    “Alexander I swear to the Traveler if you put one foot near a node…!”

    “WILL YOU SHUT UP?!” Cid suddenly roared, startling everyone, “WE CAN ARGUE AFTER WE GET THIS STUPID SHARD!”

    That ended it, thankfully. Gale sighed in relief as silence graced her ears. Alexander’s shoulders drooped a little, looking at Cid apologetically. Cid waved it off and patted him on the shoulder, just to assure him that it wasn’t him that he was mad at. He knew that Alexander was trying to look out for them, trying to protect them, and he honestly appreciated it, even if the man was getting even more stubborn about it.

    The tunnels opened up into a small valley and they could see their prize. A shard of the Traveler floated quietly there, partly corrupted by the darkness as it had nothing to purify it. There was something wrong with it, as Ghost pointed out. As they came close they could see a haze of Taken energy around it. Putting that into Transmat would be suicide for Ghost.

   “That can’t be good…” Gale mumbled as she came up to it, “Any ideas on how to clear it?”

  “We’ll need something powerful to break the shield.” Cid explained, “But I don’t think we have anything on us. We might do it with a Stormtrance, Hammer of Sol, and the Dawnblade.”

    “I’ve got a better idea.” Ana chimed through the radio, “There should still be a Warsat still left in Earth’s orbit. Let me see if I can get it to fire and break the shielding.”

  Alexander heard a sound and turned towards it. He saw tears forming in reality and reached back to pull on the robes of both Cid and Gale. They turned towards him and realized immediately why he was trying to get their attention.

   “Um, perhaps hold off until we can clear these Taken?” Gale suggested, “I don’t want to be backed near the shard when that fires.”

  “Don’t worry, it’ll take a bit. Just clear the area and stay where you are. I’m using your location to aim the Valkyrie.”

   “You got it.” Ghost chirped as the Taken started to flood through. Savathun probably wasn’t too impressed that they were taking her Shard for whatever she was going to use it for. Considering Xyer was in her arsenal, they decided really didn’t want to know. Instead Alexander threw a Hammer of Sol into the crowd that very quickly thinned it out.  Gunfire echoed through the air as he ran forward at them, those hammers exploding everywhere.

    Ah, what a beautiful fire. He almost half expected Ash to be diving right through it with that sword of her to slice away the Taken that were left. While his past opened his eyes, hers just seemed to hurt her. He could understand now what Zavala meant, what he was afraid of, but he still stood by what he believed. How could you see the future properly when you didn’t know the past?

   Only time would tell the result of that memory. He was just glad the culprits died like dogs.

   He swung around to shoot a Taken in the chest, then a second on the right, and decked a third one in the face. He was easily able to tune out the groans and the shrieks. He seemed to favour a shotgun for getting up close and personal, and it certainly was doing just fine clearing out the thralls trying to tear him apart. It certainly looked unique, but he had yet to tell anyone where he got it from.

    There was one last blast from his shotgun, and there was silence. The three Guardians lowered their guns and got away from the Shard, unsure of exactly what was going to come down.

  “Warsat in position, requesting orbital support.” Ana chimed through the radio. They heard a strange sound in the air, and when they looked up they could see something bright red falling from the sky. When it hit the shard, it burst into bright red cords of energy before dissipating. More of them fell like rain, and the three of them found themselves backing up away from the blasts. When it was finally over, the shard was cleared of Taken energy, just as promised.

   “Ana! How did you get it to fire?!” Zavala demanded to know.

    “I asked him.” She firmly replied, “Rasputin was designed to protect humanity. He listens to me.”

    “This time it listened, but are you ready to shoulder the burden the day it doesn’t?!”

    The answer was so clear to Alexander. That was enough power to put a dent into a Worm God easily. Even if Rasputin was out for himself, if he wanted to stay alive, he was going to help. Rasputin was certainly no saviour, but it was an AI clearly keen on living, and so long as their goals aligned, they would work together.

    “Zavala,” Cid spoke up, “We’re throwing away a perfectly good option here.”

    “Not you too Cid! You’ve seen the damage this thing’s done!”

    “Yeah but if Rasputin wants to stay alive it better damn well help us.”

    Alexander started to smile a little behind his helmet. It seemed like the Warlock was on the same track of thinking.

    “If my count is right Zavala, you’re kind of getting outnumbered here on this one.” Ana lightly teased.

    “Enough. Get the shard and meet us at Mars. See if Ash is ready to head back out there. It’s time to go to War with a God.”

    The three Guardians on the ground collectively sighed. Before anything happened though, they had to make sure Ash was ok. They wouldn’t do anything else until their Hunter friend was alright, and ready to go.  


	6. Even a Witch can be Afraid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More Oof

    The night of the murder she remembered feeling tense. She could hear the clanking of bottles, the cursing and the crashing of something in the other room. It didn’t feel like these were parents coming home. It was more like intruders that came in to drink and leave a mess to clean up later. If she was caught by these intruders, there would be hell to pay, in one way or another. These intruders just call themselves ‘mother’ and ‘father.’  

    As far as Geneva was concerned, she was most likely an accident. She had to be, since these parasites didn’t seem to give a lick of care for her.

    It didn’t help that her Nana was away when her parents were here. She was the only one who cared for her like a real mom, and probably the only reason she didn’t turn out like a lot of the addicted kids on the street. Ash couldn’t remember the woman’s real name, she was always Nana to her. When her parents were home, Nana was told to leave for a while. She wasn’t needed. ‘Go see family!’ they would say to her. Ash somehow felt like the woman was always hesitant to leave, fought against it a few times, but threats of destroying her and what little she had with Bray’s influence kept her from staying at those times.

    When Ash looked at it now, perhaps it was because they knew well what they did was wrong, and wanted no witnesses. Their only daughter wouldn’t speak up because she was a kid, they’d never believe her, and if she did speak they would come down upon her like a pack of hounds. That’s how it went on for so long, that’s why no one knew except for Geneva and her Nana. Geneva may have told a couple of close friends, but who would believe them either?

    She remembered sitting in her room, trying not to make any noise. She remembered having her headphones in, looking at memes, trying to drown the drunken arguing for a while. She had the itching to get out however. There was a friend having a party, and she was sure that cute boy she had been looking at for a while would be there. Nana would’ve happily let her go so long as she promised to be careful. As far as these people were concerned however, good girls stayed out of sight, out of mind, and don’t ever leave their rooms unless told they could. (At least that was the most she gathered from their screaming when she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time)

    Either way, she needed to get out of this place, at least for a while. So she waited for the noise to stop before even thinking about trying to sneak out. They lived an apartment in a city complex, it wouldn’t be easy, but she had done before when they passed out drunk.

    Unfortunately, the silence was not because they passed out.

    She remembered waiting for a moment to make sure it was really quiet before shutting off her music and creeping towards her door. She peered out to see the lights still on. Carefully she crept out and closed the door behind her. All she would have to do was creep down the hallway to the door, then she was home free.

    “Where do you think you’re going Geneva?”

    She stopped dead in her tracks. That was her father’s voice, and when she looked over, she could see him glaring from the kitchen. He was drunk, that was obvious. He only used that tone when he was.

    “Nowhere. Grabbing a snack.” Geneva lied. Geneva lied a lot to them. She had to in order to get by them.

    “DAVIS! WHERE’S THAT FUCKING FILE?!” Natalie screeched from the living room. Geneva shuffled into the kitchen to grab a cookie, planning to make a quick exit back into her room so she could avoid her.

    “LIKE I’D KNOW! IF YOU WEREN’T SO DAMN CLUMSY YOU WOULDN’T LOSE SHIT!” he bellowed right back. Geneva was already walking back to her room. If she could just make it, then she could avoid her inevitable wrath…

    No such luck.

    The was an awful sound of a bottle smashing against the side of Geneva’s skull. The girl went down, the bottom tumbling with her. Natalie’s target had actually been Davis, but she very clearly missed and hit her daughter instead. What was also very clear was she didn’t care she hit Geneva as she stormed out to scream at him some more. Geneva winced as she reached up to the side of her head that throbbed in pain. She was pretty sure she blacked out for a moment there, but couldn’t be sure. The world seemed to come in and out of focus around her.

    “GENEVA! WHERE IS THAT FILE?!” Natalie suddenly screeched as she turned her abuse towards the young girl. The sound of her name drew Geneva back into her cruel reality.

    “I… what?” she asked. She then felt herself hoisted up by the collar by the woman.

    “SIVA! THAT FILE ON SIVA! WHERE IS IT?!” The woman’s face had gone completely red.

    “I-I don’t know…” Geneva cringed at the strong scent of alcohol.

    “NATALIE CALM YOURSELF! CHRIST!” Davis yelled at the woman and tried to pry her off.

    “AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT OF YOUR ROOM? TRYING TO SNEAK OUT? TEENAGERS ALWAYS TRY THAT! I THOUGHT VIKTORIA DID BETTER THAN TO TEACH YOU THAT!” Natalie continued to scream.

   Viktoria, that was her Nana’s name. She wouldn’t approve of her sneaking out, but she wouldn’t do this to her. Never in her wildest dreams would Viktoria ever do this to her. Viktoria proved time and time again she never would…

    “N-No! I-I was just getting a…!” Geneva stuttered.

    “YOU’RE LYING! I KNOW YOU ARE!” Natalie kept yelling at her. Geneva shook her head feverishly and closed her eyes. She hated this. She hated being at her mother’s mercy, or her father’s who wasn’t doing anything to save her anymore. She was always scared, always waiting for a blow, even though she tried to pacify them as best as she could. Really though, there was no winning this situation. If she lied and said she took it, it would be a game of trying to find it when she had no clue. Telling the truth however would make this continue.

   “N-No mom! Mom please! I’m not…!”

   She then slapped the girl across the face. It was an act that was common between them, but not understood at all by Geneva. The first blow was followed by a second, and third blow as words poured out that wicked woman’s face and bore into her skull. They were lies, telling her how awful she was, how she stole the file, how stupid she was, all sorts of things Geneva knew were not true but they still  _hurt._  They still left their scars, still tore at her self esteem, still made her feel like the most pathetic thing in existence.

    But sometimes, even the most scared and helpless thing could only be pushed so far.

    She opened her eyes a little and could see where the bottle landed. It was in her reach. Ash couldn’t remember exactly what made her snap that night. Maybe it was because she finally had enough. Maybe because she had a flash of a moment where she could fight back, and make her suffer for all she did. Maybe it was because she felt like she had no other choice. She reached over to the bottle, grabbed it in a firm grip and with all of her might, swung it and smashed it against Natalie’s head. The woman lost her hold on her, and Geneva fell to her back. For a second she saw the blood running down Natalie’s face where the glass cut her, her screams echoing in her ears, but she had to move. She turned as she got up and scrambled to the door, hoping she could make it out. She didn’t know where she would go, but she had to get out of here…!

    Unfortunately in her impulse she had forgotten about her father. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back into the kitchen. He practically threw her into the counters, Geneva letting out a cry as her back took the blow. He was now over top of her, his hands and lower body pinning her to that counter as he screamed.

    “YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE BITCH! HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO YOUR MOTHER?!”

    Geneva started screaming and crying, trying to grab the attention of someone, anyone to save her. Perhaps he didn’t want to hear her anymore, because he then put his hands on her neck and started to squeeze.

    “STOP THAT! STOP THAT! STOP THAT!” he kept yelling. Geneva couldn’t even reply, only let out gagging sounds as she tried to get some air into her lungs. She felt them burning, felt the pain in her neck, felt fear consuming her whole…

    After a while, everything went black, and she woke up in that snowy mountain with Chie.

   Sarah was stunned hearing that. Ash almost half expected her to yell, to curse, to throw something at the wall, but she didn’t. Sarah instead held her so tight, running her hands up and down her back, trying to comfort her in any way she could. Ash certainly appreciated, because if Sarah had begun to yell, she wouldn’t have taken it well. Not anymore.

    “Traveler…. Ash I’m so sorry. You don’t deserve that.” Sarah told her. Ash was glad they were just sitting on the pillows in her own room. Chie and Kiki were close by, Chie playing some tunes that Ash liked. She was grateful that she was able to just sit here with her dear friend and allow herself to feel weak for a moment. She could with the others, but she was the most comfortable with Sarah.

    “…I didn’t want to remember that.” Ash mumbled after a while.

    “I know.” Sarah replied quietly.

    “Geneva… even that name sounds wrong. I’ve been Ash for so long I… it doesn’t feel like my name.”

    “Your name is whatever you want it to be. It sounds like you still want it to be Ash.”

    Ash nodded, “Yeah… I like it better. It has a meaning to it, you know?” There was a beat of silence for a moment, “Funny I… I was always a bit curious about my past life, but now I… I don’t want to know anymore.”

    “You don’t have to know anymore.” Sarah assured her.

    “It helped Alex…”

    “Alexander was lost. You weren’t. You never were.” Sarah explained, “Alexander had a woman trying to get him to remember everything, and until the Red War, he was lost as to what he really wanted to do. Being a Guardian was a huge thing for him, because it meant he could keep busy and not feel so lost. You never had that problem.”

    “What about Gale? Didn’t she say she remembers a little?”

    “She hardly mentions it around me. I don’t even think she really had time to think on those memories. The woman hardly sleeps.”

    “And you?”

    “If I didn’t remember I had Cilka, things would’ve been a lot different. It took you coming along and digging up the past for me to finally let it go. You know that.”

    Ash looked down a little, “Yeah… I know.”

    “Knowing the past can be a good thing, or a bad thing. If I’ve learned anything from running around in the forest, the best case scenario is learning from the past and moving on.”

    Ash nodded, “…if I’ve learned one thing… it’s that family isn’t blood.”

    Sarah shook her head, “It’s a lot more than that.”

    “You won’t leave me right?” Ash pulled away a little and looked into Sarah’s eyes, “You won’t… you won’t leave me all alone, right? None of you will?”

    Sarah shook her head, “Not for all the glimmer in the world.”

    Ash smiled a little and looked down a bit, “Thank you…”

    “Hey, do you sense that?” Sarah asked with a small smile. Now that she mentioned it, Ash did notice it. 3 lights were coming towards the tower, the three she knew very well, “They’re gonna be worried about you. I’m sure they’ll come in wanting to know if you’re ok.”

    Ash smiled a little more and nodded a bit.

    “Hey, it’ll be ok.” Sarah smiled gently at her. “You’re not alone.”

    “Yeah, I know…”

    “Come on, let’s gear up and go kick Xol back to the sword world, or whatever it is.”

    The two of them got up, Sarah leaving Ash to change into her gear. The girl stood there for a moment, looking down at herself. She had always been this small, always been fighting for her life. This wasn’t anything new to her… and it was a depressing thought. The only difference in this life was she had space magic to back up her reckless habits, and people that she held so dear.

    If she didn’t have them… well…

    She decided not to think on it anymore. She pulled her things together and walked out to the hangars. She debated whether or not to hide her face behind her mask to hide the fact she had been crying, but decided that there was no need. They understood, they always understood, and that’s what made them so special…

    “Chie?” Ash asked quietly. The little ghost perked up a bit hearing her name, “I’m… I’m glad you… gave me another chance after everything…”

    The ghost gave a small nod then floated up to nestle in Ash’s hood, “Bringing you back was the best thing I’ve ever done, now even more so.”

    They came into the hangars in time to see the ships landing. Sarah was standing there waiting for them, arms crossed, his face betraying how she still fretted over Ash. The three guardians climbed out, and immediately had their eyes set on Ash, who had her hood pulled up over her head. It was as Sarah said, they were worried about her. The Hunter managed a small smile, trying to reassure them, even though not much would.

    “Hey.” Ash greeted as she walked up beside Sarah. She watched the three of them reach up to their helms and took them off. They all had expressions that Ash guessed would be there: worry, grief, sadness, mostly worry.

    “Hey.” Gale replied quietly, “How are you feeling?”

    “Better. I’ll feel even better when Xol is 6 feet under.”

    “Are you sure you’re up for this?” Cid asked.

    Ash nodded, “I don’t want to sit here and sulk. I’ll feel better knocking some heads together and not being useless.”

    “If you’re sure…” Sarah mused.

    “You’ll all be there.” Ash gave them a tiny smile, “I’ll be fine.”

    “Alright, but if something’s wrong, you let us know ok?” Ghost translated for his Guardian. Ash gave him a nod as he folded his arms, “Now… the question becomes do we follow through with this plan? We have the shard, but going right into the Lion’s Den with something that will make him stronger? Maybe not the best idea.”

    “Not really.” Cid agreed, “But that leaves only one option.”

    “Take the shard to a node and play a waiting game.” Alexander finished.

    “I’m not sure if that’s the greatest idea in the world either.” Sarah mused, “Don’t get me wrong, Zavala’s plan is not great, but if we leave it out in the open there’s going to be more coming after it. I’m sure the Hive will be hungry for any sort of power after being a popsicle for so long. We’ll be dealing with swarms of Hive waiting for Xol to come around, and he might not even do that. He might just keep sending his army until we keel over. Worst case scenario he can send Xyer or someone of a similar caliber after us, and then we’re really fucked. We’ll be throwing Javelins into her and then Xol swoops in and kills us.”

    “You do have a point there. We can’t afford to be picking fights with high ranking Hive while waiting for our target. The surprise down below might work better. That’s not to say we won’t run into them on the way down, but we’ll most likely have to deal with less.” Gale nodded.

    “The Valkyrie is still a really good weapon we could use to help us.” Ash spoke up, “Its only limit is how long it lasts and how often Rasputin gives it out. I gave it a spin, and it could help to bring this thing down.”

    “He will help us as much as he can so long as his life is in danger.” Cid added, “But how many Hive must we go through until Xol himself appears? And as much as I want a chance to get my hands on Xyer, Sarah’s right, we can’t be messing around with powerful Hive members that might get sent after us.”

    “So we dive right into the Lion’s Den, and we hope it’s like Oyrx was. We beat Xol at his own game once we jump him, together.” Alexander concluded before letting out a sigh, “I just wish we could bring the Valkyrie with us.”

    “Either way we’re on the losing end here.” Sarah shook her head a bit, “Either get swarmed or take a major risk going into unknown Hive territory.”

     Ash found herself chewing on her lower lip. There had to be a better way to handle this. She didn’t like the fact they were going down there against a worm god who could so easily kill them. The Hive had done enough to Cid and Gale, and now they were going for the big guy in hopes of snuffing him out. She didn’t want them to be hurt anymore, she didn’t want Alexander or Sarah to suffer at the hands of the Hive either…

     The family she had in the past meant nothing to her, but the one she had now meant everything. She was seeing that now, and seeing it so clearly. She wished Ana could see that as well. What mattered now was not what the Brays wanted, but want Carmrin wants and needs. Did Camrin see the dangers of Rasputin herself? Does Camrin see Rasputin in the same light that Ana does?

    There was only one way to know for sure, and that was to speak with Camrin herself, but they didn’t have the time to do that.

    “No matter what happens…” Ghost piped up and grabbed all of their attention. Alexander looked quite serious as he spoke and his Ghost did well to mimic the tone, “If things are going south, we’re retreating. I don’t want to lose any one of you down there.”

    Everyone nodded in agreement. If there was one thing they could count on, it was Alexander putting them above anything else. The only thing he held anywhere closer were the lives of innocent people. It would surely bite him one day, as one day he would surely have to chose between the lives of a few and the lives of many, but right now he didn’t have to. If they had to run, there was still time afterwards to plan something new.

    For now.

* * * *

    “Alexander…”

    “Don’t worry, we thought it through, and we’re going down there as planned.”

    Standing on Mars again was not something Cid saw himself doing any time soon, yet here he was. He looked upon the Bray facility with a sense of wonder, yet dread at the same time. There was something about this place, something that screamed at him that there was something so important, yet he couldn’t remember it at all. Perhaps it was because this was the Birthplace of the EXO, and Rasputin. This was where his body was made, which his human self gave up his flesh for an unknown reason and turned it into metal and wires.

    He found himself swallowing dry. He didn’t need to remember things like that. They had enough to deal with, but that ever sensation of curiosity that got him into trouble more than once was there. The facility was a trove of secrets just waiting to be cracked open…

    “I figured you’d wonder about this place.” Ash spoke up. They were standing on the outskirts, doing a final prep while Alexander talked to Zavala, “It’s huge… and has a lot of things that could give you answers.”

    “I’d given up on learning my past a long time ago.” Cid replied as he kept looking up, “And honestly, I don’t know if I want to remember either. But if I could find where we were made, so many others could have answers. The Deep Stone Crypt, the Reset number, why do most EXOs have a reset number? Why is mine at 0? Why am I the exception? I understand the reset is needed when things go wrong in the brain, but was there any other reason?”

    “Maybe after we kick Xol’s ass, we’ll explore a bit. We can find out.”

    “I’d like that. I’d like to understand my inner workings a bit more, you know?”

    “That is a good question though…” Ash frowned, “Why is the reset number at 0? Were you like Alex and bolted before they could reset you? Or did they not have to? EXOs remember their names and their reset numbers, right?”

    “Oi!” Sarah called both of them, “We’re heading in. We can explore this place later. It’s gotten me curious too.”

    It was hard not to be, considering where they were. The two of them looked at each other and nodded, wandering over to rejoin the group.

    “I’ve been running some scans. There’s a natural cave formation that intersects with large tunnels. We can get in from there.” Ghost piped up.

    “Guys, I still don’t know about this.” Ana radioed, “I’ve read the logs. Rasputin was barely able to defeat Xol the first time!”

    “Our Mission stands! We will defeat Xol and we don’t need the help of a Warmind to do it!” Zavala announced. Alexander shook his head a little, but decided not to explain why they were doing it this way. It would be a waste of breath and would just start another argument. His mission stood as such: ambush the worm god in the Ice Caves, and if failure is imminent, retreat. Once he got down there he would have to look for evacuation routes.

    Upon stepping foot into the caves with Alexander leading the way, they quickly felt that something was… off. There was an odd feeling in the air they couldn’t place. It wasn’t like the Taken destroying reality, it was a hum of sorts, an energy unlike their own, drifting out from inside. Alexander could hear Cid quietly mumble something about a ritual, which made Alexander’s grip on his gun just a little tighter.

    Down a little further they could hear something now. A strange whistle, the tiniest hint of voices chanting, in a language that was unfamiliar yet not, was drifting through the air. Ghost perked up a little, trying to make sense of the strange noise.

    “I can’t seem to make out what this is…” he chirped.

    “I can hear it too.” Ana spoke up through the radio, “Give me a minute to scan it. Maybe I can figure out what it is.”

    “Other than a Hive ritual?” Cid asked.

    “Other than a Hive ritual, yes. That part is pretty obvious.”

    They decided to press on, carefully descending deeper into the caves along the ice shelves. No one dared to look and see how far down drop was. Ash found herself far less nervous with the others surrounding her. She wasn’t focused on the ice or cold, she was focused on what was ahead, what was lurking around the corner next, and if something came out, how to attack it and defend these people around her.

    But it never came as they dove a little deeper, and that was almost just as worrisome. The sound was starting to get louder as they walked deeper and deeper inside.

    “It’s getting worse, but I’m starting to pick up a pattern.” Ghost chirped, “I still don’t know what they’re saying though.”

    “I’m thinking encoded message.” Ana replied, “Which almost guarantees a Hive Ritual.”

    “As if the creepy sounds weren’t enough.” Sarah mumbled. The sound as starting to have a high pitched whistle added in which made her raise a hand to her head. “Sooner we find the source the better.

    “What on earth are they doing down here? Cid mumbled as they all began to walk again. Ash felt her nerves bundling up. This felt like such a bad idea, but turning around would get them nowhere. Instead they slowly made their way through the tunnel, noting how the Hive Corrosion was getting even worse. Through the sound they heard something familiar, and almost welcomed t this point. They peered around a corner to see Hive Knights and Acolytes guarding a passage. They were blocking a passage with a shield powered by a strange greenish crystal.

    “Any idea on what the hell that is Cid?” Sarah quietly asked as she crouched down. She looked down the sights of the Nameless Midnight at the crystal.

    “If I were to hazard a guess, crystallized Hive power. I think it’s called Soulfire.” Cid replied.

    “Funny, considering they have no soul.” Ash lightly joked, trying to defuse some of the tension.

    “If you can land a tether in the middle, I’ll clear them out.” Gale quietly suggested to Sarah who gave a nod. The Hunter went ahead, slipping right into the shadows of the room. Gale quietly followed while the rest of them hung back, aiming their weapons at the creatures in case something went wrong. There was absolute stillness for a moment, the sound muffling the footsteps of the Hunter and Warlock, and then came the Storm.

   It was sudden, the Hive didn’t expect it. Sarah fired her arrow from hiding and landed it right in the middle of the crowd. As the void arrow expanded and grabbed everything it could, Gale leaped out from the shadows, arc coursing through her body in a Stormtrance. Sarah felt a smile coming to her lips as she felt some of her powers returning thanks to the Orpheus Rig. She could fire another arrow if she wanted to. What was even more satisfying was watching the Stormcaller rip through the Hive like there was nothing to them, their bodies shattering as the ice gave way.

    She then turned to the crystal with a glare and sent Arc energy right at it. It responded rather violently to the light, and shattered within a few seconds. The barrier went down, and Gale’s feet gently touched the ground to dismiss the trance for another time.

    “Nice one.” Ash grinned behind her mask as the five of them came together again, “Well, they probably know we’re coming now.

    “It’s was going to happen eventually.” Ghost translated, “At least now there’s something other than the weird noise to listen to.”

    Through this tunnel and the eerie soft lights left over from the Hive they came to an open room. The rock and ice now ran along a wall as a shelf, and they could see where the start of Xol’s tunnels were. They were massive gaping holes in the earth, far larger than what they have been walking through before.

    “This is massive…” Ghost sounded quite surprised, “I didn’t expect them to be as big as this.”

    “Which means Xol is more powerful than we thought. Size in Hive usually indicate power.” Ana mused.

    “All the more reason to put him down now.” Zavala concluded. Cid felt the need to bite his tongue despite lacking a proper one: mostly because he had to choke down the urge to reply with ‘yes, now is better than when you first knew about this Zavala.’

    Down into one of the tunnels Xol made, the noise was getting worse and worse. The tunnel opened up a bit more and they could see 4 Knights surrounding a magic circle, chanting something or other. It wasn’t a name they ever heard before however.

    “Who the fuck is Nokris?” Sarah mumbled as they crouched behind some rock to listen in.

    “Hm, this is what my ghost is getting…” Ana mumbled, “He’s a priest who was labelled a Heretic.”

    “What could possibly be considered heretical for the Hive?” Zavala asked.

    “Something about resurrection…?”

    Cid seemed to think for a moment before speaking up, “The Hive believe that death is absolute, when something dies, it shouldn’t come back. There are few exceptions to the rule, such as Savathun and Xivu Arath, and perhaps even Oryx himself. They are considered Gods so of course they should come back in some way or another. Normal Hive though? No. Also, I think I’ve seen the name Nokris before. There’s a statue on the Dreadnaught of him. I thought it was odd…”

     “He must’ve been important at one point, but for now we need to get to where Xol is.” Ghost translated.

     “Why do I get the feeling we’ll be dealing with the Nokris too?” Ash mumbled as she peered over the rock.

     “More than likely. Ok so how are we going to kill these guys?” Sarah quietly asked.

     “I got this.” Ash told her as she unsheathed her sword. She then leaped over the rock and charged all of the knights. She sliced off the heads of two before they could get up, and very quickly stabbed another in the head. The last one came up behind her and she used her sword to hoist her feet up to the Knight’s shoulders and kicked off, flipping over the last knight and taking her sword with her. Before it could turn around, she already had her sword through its back and through the chest. She planted her foot on its back and ripped it out, the corpse hitting the ground.

    “Ok, now you’re just showing off.” Sarah commented as she stood up. Ash couldn’t see it, but Sarah had a small smile on her face, seeing her pull stunts like that. She seemed to be better now at least from the previous scare.

     There was a roar from further inside. As they ran forward and leaped down a hole, they could see the source. The sound was almost unbearable here as it was echoed by the roaring of an Ogre, the shrieking of Thralls and the hum of those strange Soulfire crystals protecting said Ogre. They raised their hands to their ear as the intensity of the sound was getting worse.

    “Oh fuck this!” Cid shouted before spreading his wings and summoning his sword. He flew forward, his sword cutting through the charging thrall with little trouble. He rushed the two crystals smashing them to tiny shards with waves of fire. Once they were down and the Ogre no longer had his shield, he dove down at it and shoved the sword into its many eyes.  As it screeched, he pulled it down through its head and to the ground. The Ogre fell over dead, and he could hear the sound of gunfire behind him, clearing out the Thrall and other Hive still remaining. At least now the sound was far more bearable as he ran to meet up with them.

   “Dear Traveler this is awful!” Gale groaned as she put her hands over her ears again. “What are they even saying?!”

    “I think I finally got it!”  Ana piped up, “Akka, Eir, Yul, Ur… those are names. Ancient Powerful names. This is more than…!”

    The radio suddenly cut out. They all looked at each other and then to Ghost who was trying to re-establish connection.

    “Ana! Zavala! I got nothing….!” he looked up in a bit of a panic, “Now what?”

    “It’s gotta be coming from down there, right?” Ash asked as she walked to the entrance of the next tunnel. Peering over the small ice shelf she could see it dropped suddenly into a tunnel filled with Hive Corrosion.

    “They sound like other Worm God names. This is probably a really powerful ritual we’re about to…!”

    Cid was suddenly interrupted by a loud crack. The ground beneath everyone began to shake beneath them, far more violently than on the surface. Ash could hear cracking above and below her. When she looked up she could see she was underneath packed snow and ice starting to give way. As she stepped towards the safety of her friends, she felt the shelf giving out beneath her. She tried to run forward, but she wasn’t fast enough. She let out a scream as she reached out to her family who was running to try and save her, but Sarah’s hand was just out of reach. The hunter fell down onto the unforgiving ice and started sliding down of her front. She let out more screams as she could see the tunnel collapsing behind her. She turned to be on her back and could see a small room she was about to be thrown into. She fell from the ceiling and onto the hard ice and rock below. The snow and ice rained down after her a little bit as the way back sealed up.

    The girl hissed with pain from the hard landing. She could hear the murmurs of Hive that seemed to be leaving the area in that room. The noise was finally silent, their ritual was over. Ash pulled herself to be behind a rock as she listened for the footsteps walking away from her and the area, disappearing after while. The last thing she needed was to be caught while she was hurt, and thankfully it sounded like they were further away now.

    She sighed a little in relief as Chie came out of hiding and started to heal the bruises. She looked up out of where she fell out of and could see large boulders of ice and rock were blocking the way now. Ash let out a sigh as she slumped against the rock.

    “I think we’re in a lot of trouble Chie…” she mumbled as she took off her mask. She hardly had time to breathe or even think about figuring out how to get out when she heard a new sound. It sounded like something tore behind her rock. She peered over and her eyes widened watching a Hive Wizard slip through what seemed to be a tear in reality. It was an old Hive Wizard it seemed, with legs and three eyes. She could feel the power radiating off of her as she floated over to the other side of the room. There seemed to be scrolls and tablets piled up near an inactive Hive portal. The Witch quietly started to sift through them, clearly looking for something.

    There was one of two options it could be. This could either Nokris, or Xyer. Ash was leaning more towards Xyer since the legs were such an oddity. She wanted it to be Xyer in a way, so she could perhaps take vengeance for what she did to Cid and Gale and countless other Guardians, but in another way she really didn’t want it to be Xyer. She was all alone against a powerful Hive witch, one that seemed intent on being a Queen. After seeing Edna’s body on the ground, Ash knew just how brutal Xyer could really be.

    She was mumbling something that Ash couldn’t understand as she debated on what to do. She reached down for her gun, chewing on her lower lip. As much as she would love to fight Xyer, it really was a bad idea to do so alone. A part of her wanted to try and jump the witch and see if she could quickly assassinate her, but something told her deep down that it was impossible. All the same, she slowly pulled her gun out of its holster and took the safety off…

    “VALUS SIAO?!” the witch suddenly shrieked as she turned around. Ash let out a gasp from her throat that she couldn’t stop. Suddenly she felt herself hoisted up by her neck and the gun falling out her hands. She yelped as she kicked and struggled to get free from this strange magic. The Witch crossed the room, seeming both puzzled and irritated.

_Hoh? Now what do we have here? A Guardian who’s touched by his light… and even that cute girl’s…_

    Ash’s eyes widened as she could hear the witch’s voice in her head. There was no doubt now that this was Xyer. The way she carried herself, her powers, the way she said ‘his light’, it all screamed that this was the witch who tormented her family. Ash clenched her teeth as Xyer got closer, reaching down and grabbing one of her knives to throw at the witch, only for it to freeze in midair before it could even touch her.

     _Now, now, none of that._  The Witch chided as she took the knife out of the air and closed the gap between them, holding the weapon up to Ash’s neck.  _That’s no way to introduce yourself my dear. I don’t mean to harm you, and so long as you’ll chat with me, I won’t._

    Ash felt the metal being pressed up against her flesh just enough so it wouldn’t draw blood, but still be extremely uncomfortable. She cringed a little as the witch reached up with her free arm and gently stroked Ash’s cheek with her thumb. She wanted to fight back, but she knew if she did it wouldn’t end well for her. The Witch had her at her mercy, and she didn’t know when she was going to get help.

    “Alright…” Ash hissed between her teeth, “What do you want?”

_Nothing from you other than to stay quiet. I don’t know how much time I have here. Why don’t we talk over here while I’m sorting through things?_

    Ash felt herself being pulled forward as Xyer lowered both hands and walked towards the pile of scripts. She then dropped to the ground as Xyer freed her, only for a clawed hand to grab her wrist and roughly drag her into a standing position. Xyer was far stronger than she looked and quickly got behind the hunter, holding the knife back up to her neck again and having another arm holding her waist. The Witch was far taller than Ash herself, and she couldn’t help but shudder as she could feel the darkness oozing off of her as she seemed to just fold over the Hunter.

     _Tell me, what’s your name?_  Xyer asked as the scrolls started to float and open up on their own.

    “…Geneva…” The hunter said through clenched teeth. She didn’t know if the Witch could use her own name against her, so she gave her the one she didn’t go by anymore. She felt the witch’s thumb moving up and down her side, which just made her all the more uncomfortable.

_Interesting. Why are you down there? Where’s Cid and that cute girl? Where’s your other friends?_

    “Plan was to kill Xol, maybe. I came alone.”

    She was lying through her teeth for the last part. There was no way she would tell her where anyone else was, especially Cid. She already had done enough to him.

     _Kill Xol? Hoh? You’re either very brave or very foolish. Today may actually be a great day after all._

    Ash squirmed a little when she felt the Witch’s hand start sliding to her chest, letting out a hiss through her jaw, “Stop that.”

_Hmmm, don’t think I will. Though I must ask, how did you plan on killing Xol?_

    “Dumb luck and lots of bullets, now get your hand off of my chest!”

    Xyer started to laugh, but it didn’t sound cruel. She did thankfully lower her hand from her breast to stomach again. At least that was far more bearable.

 _Ah, the true Guardian way_. Xyer paused to read some of the texts before sighing and dropping them, only to pick up others.  _Honestly you’d be doing me a favour putting him down, even if it’s very unlikely you will. He and Nokris are both in my way, and both deserve to be buried forever in this rock._

    “Wait, what?” Ash started to ask.

_You see all of this? Somewhere in here is the key to resurrection. I want to know it, for then if something goes wrong in my plans, I have a back up. Those two are the only things in my way my dear, guarding all of this…_

    There was suddenly another tremor. The tablets and scrolls suddenly fell to the floor as Xyer looked up. She dropped the knife and let go of Ash as she quickly floated away. Ash whirled around and saw something strange. The witch seemed… fearful. Something was wrong…

_Damn it! I was hoping for more time! Damn Nokris!_

    “What is he?! Why are you freaking out?!” Ash shouted at her as she picked up her knife from the ground.

 _You fool! He’s not just any Hive Wizard! He is Oryx’s son! A son he banished because of his Heresy!_  Xyer snarled back. Ash felt her heart drop hearing that.

    “Oh fuck…”

_That doesn’t begin to describe the trouble you’ll be in. I’m getting out of here while I can thank you very much._

    “Alright then! Run you fucking bitch! After I kill Nokris and Xol I’ll be coming after your ass for what you did!” Ash shouted as she pointed the knife at her.

    Xyer let out a laugh, a cruel laugh only she could perfect as she tore a hole in reality to escape to.  _Fool. This place will be your grave, but I like your spirit at least!_

    She then went through the tear and it sealed shut behind her. Ash growled as she ran over to pick up her gun and her mask. Her best bet was to hit a Golden Gun shot square in the face, and hopefully it would blow his head to smithereens. He could hear the portal behind her roar to life. As she turned around a Hive Wizard came out of the green sickly flames wearing robes of crimson red. It was hard to tell since his face was not expressive, but he seemed angry.

    “Hey Nokris! Xyer messed up your shit! You might wanna deal with her first!” Ash shouted at him, but all he did was open his glowing hand to fire Soulfire at her. She rolled out of the way, mumbling how it was worth a try.

    “Chie, this is turning into the shittiest day ever!” Ash shouted as she fired several rounds into Nokris. The Herald of Xol snarled at her, raising his hands up and summoning thralls to his aid. He then crossed both arms over his chest as crystals of Soulfire manifested and started to power a shield around the man.

    “Now that’s not fair!” Ash growled as she took her sword to the thralls. She could hear more coming out of that portal as well trying to chase her down. At least Nokris wasn’t attacking her on top of everything else going on, though that was the only silver lining to this entire horrible situation she was in. Really if she thought about it, in the last 48 hours she learned her past life was horrible, had to be taken home, ended up getting involved with killing a Worm God, got separated from her family, held hostage by a crazy witch who had no sense of personal space and now she was being attacked by an angry Hive Wizard that was the son of Oryx. Honestly at this point she couldn’t see how this could get any worse…

    She shouldn’t have even thought that.

    She leaped up over the crowd charging at her and unloaded another clip of bullets into one of the Soulfire crystals. The last one was enough to make it shatter, and as she hit the ground she quickly reloaded the barrel as she whirled around to face the crowd of screeching acolytes and thrall chasing her. She threw down a swarm grenade and watched as it pierced the skulls of the thralls and cut down their numbers. She then saw one more rushing her from the side and tossed a knife with her other hand at it, impaling it within its skull. She then fired another clip into the last crystal, shattering it, followed by a roar from the Hive Wizard.

    “Oi! You’re not the only one here who’s fucking pissed!” Ash shouted as she spun around to face him. Fire laced her being as she aimed her gun at Nokris, “Say hi to dad and your siblings when you get to hell.”

    She fired one powerful shot. The blast hit Nokris square in the face, destroying it within a fraction of a second. Echoes of a scream filled the air as the Herald was burned from the inside out, falling to the ground before being completely consumed. Ash glared at the corpse before walking away towards where she came from. All this time she could hear some noises and explosions muffled above, and 4 lights trying their best to get closer to her.

    “How do you think we’ll get out of here Chie…?” Ash mumbled.

    She let out a small shriek as the place began to shake once more. This time she felt something different, something far more terrifying and reminded her of a time she was trying to forget. There was a ringing in her ears, her light was nowhere to be found, she couldn’t feel the others trying to get to her. She fell to her knees as a weakness came over her, a familiar one she didn’t want to remember. She fell to her side and rolled onto her back, her vision growing blurry. She could feel dark powers reaching out, clawing at her, her light, suffocating her in this darkness, pulling at her body, stealing precious oxygen.

    “T H E R E I S  N O  L I G H T H E R E.”

    Ash could see something massive slithering above her, around and around the room. It was a creature she could only assume was Xol of a Thousand Wills. She tried to speak, only for nothing to come out. She was quickly finding that she couldn’t breathe and started making choking and gasping sounds, bringing her hands up to own neck as if that would help her situation at all. She even got so desperate as to reach up to her mask and take it off, hoping for even just a bit more air.

    “Y O U A R E  A L O N E.”

    He was right. She was all alone in this moment. The others couldn’t get to her now. She felt her eyes burning, her lungs aching with the lack of air. She squirmed, as her vision started to fade…

    “Y O U S H A L L  D R I F T…”

    Funny, she thought to herself as her conscious started to fade away, as tears fell down her cheeks. This was how she first died… now she knew how it felt again. Was this going to be her final death?

    “Y O U S H A L L  D R O W N… I N  T H E D E E P…”

    That was the last thing Ash heard before she lost consciousness, falling down into a deep dark abyss called death one more time. She didn’t hear the ceiling give way and bury her beneath snow and ice. She didn’t hear a familiar scream for her…

    Down she fell into the Deep, into the dark, into what she thought was death…


	7. To Kill a God

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Round 2 doesn't end well for Xol

    On the other side of the blockage it had been slow trying to get through. Alexander and Cid attempted to melt the ice only to hit solid rock. They would all move the heavy stones until they met ice again, rinse and repeat. The problem came when they met a solid boulder that refused to budge. They had to back up and throw Hammers of Sol and a round of Warcliff rockets before it finally broke and they could tear it apart.

    Sarah felt her nerves getting the better of her as she rushed to clear the debris. She could feel something was wrong. Ash was in danger, she just somehow knew it. She could hear echoes of a battle after a while as they worked their way down. Ash could handle herself, but there was still that Worm God…!

    There was silence for a moment before the place gave a lurch and shake. Before she knew it, Alexander had his arms around her and was carrying her out of the collapsing tunnel. She turned to see both Warlocks holding onto each other as they scrambled to get away from more rock and ice and back to relative safety. But there was something more horrifying that occupied Sarah’s mind.

    She couldn’t feel Ash anymore. Her light seemed to have simply vanished. The feeling got worse when they got to safety in the opened room. Snow was still drifting down from the ceiling as the vibrations started to become less and less as the creature got further away. The world stilled again, it was dead quiet as they stared at the tunnel that had cruelly collapsed once more. Beyond that was Ash, and uncertainty about her fate.

    “No…” Sarah finally breathed as she reached up for her mask. Impulse took over as she dropped it and ran for the tunnel they had worked so hard to dig out. Her hands desperately gripped the rock and ice chunks, throwing them aside. She didn’t care how long it took. She would dig out her friend no matter what. She wasn’t going to leave her. She promised she wouldn’t…

    “Fuck…!” Cid cursed as he also ran up to start digging out the tunnel again. Alexander and Gale were right on his heels as they begun their excavation again.

    “Hang on Ash! We’re coming! Just hang on! Please!” Gale mumbled as she threw aside more debris.  Her fears were all coming to life, her dreams, the greatest worry she had coming down here was coming to life. She felt many things threatening to consume her, guilt, regret, worry, and the only thing that kept them away was her hands working  into the cave for any sort of hope of rescuing the Hunter.

    “Hello?! Is this working now?!” Ana’s voice chimed through Ghost as he finally got signal back.

    “It’s working.” Ghost answered for everyone as they were far too busy and couldn’t answer properly. Even still, there was worry in his tone “We can hear you.”

    “What happened down there?!” Zavala shouted, “Is everyone ok?”

    “…no.” Ghost turned towards everyone who still didn’t stop their desperate work, “…we lost Ash. She got separated from us and we tried to get to her but… her light…”

    “No…” Ana started to say, and Ghost could hear a sigh from the commander. The last thing either of them wanted was to lose someone down there. Unfortunately there were bigger problems to worry about. Ghost could hear several sounds from Ana’s end of the comms, mostly of alarms going off and things shaking about.

    “Oh no! Xol is tearing up Rasputin’s Neural Network! If Rasputin dies, the Javelin goes with him. Xol wins! Worst case scenario he triggers Rasputin’s ability to control the weather and the tectonic plates in this area and takes this whole place down as well!”

    “Guardians… I know this is hard but…” Zavala started to say, “…You need to leave her behind. We must stop Xol, even if we need Rasputin to do it.”

    Sarah stopped hearing that, as did everyone else. She slowly turned towards Ghost, her face having gone pale. “What did you just say…?”

    “Sarah I know how much Ash means to you but….” Zavala tried to assure her, but he was wasting his breath. Her face twisted into one of rage with grief creasing it. To suggest to leave her for dead…!

    “YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT SHE MEANS TO ME! I AM NOT LEAVING UNTIL I FIND HER!” Sarah screamed with back past the growing lump in her throat. She felt her eyes burn with tears but kept yelling against them, “I SAID I WOULDN’T LEAVE HER AND I FUCKING MEANT IT! I’M NOT LEAVING HER TO DIE DOWN THERE! FUCK YOU! SHE’S IN DANGER AND YOU WANT US TO JUST LEAVE HER ALL ALONE? WHAT KIND OF FUCKING COMMANDER ARE YOU?!”

    “Sarah I know you’re emotional but please see reason…!”

    “FUCK OFF! I’M NOT LEAVING UNTIL I FIND HER!”

    Cid looked at the collapsed debris, feeling a swirl of anger and a familiar despair. He felt much the same as Sarah did. He didn’t want to leave either. He wanted to find her. He didn’t want to lose another friend to the Hive. They had taken far too much already, and now they had to take Ash of all people. Sure she was a pain every now and then, but she always meant well. She never meant any harm in anything, and always did her best in her own way to be there when they needed her.

_You still owe me that rematch! I’ll be better next time!_

    “Sarah, guys, please! If you guys stay down there Rasputin could…!” Ana tried to intervene.

    “Don’t you give me that crap!” Cid hissed, stopping Sarah from answering right away, “Is that all you fucking care about? A murderous machine? The only reason it’s working with us is because it doesn’t want to die! Ash is down there and Traveler only knows what’s happening to her! That fucking thing can wait until we dig her out!”

    “That’s not what I…!”

    “IT SURE FUCKING SOUNDS LIKE IT!” Cid bellowed right back, fire starting to consume his being. He clenched his jaw as he whirled around to blast some of the ice blocking their way, trying to defuse some of what he felt. As soon as he did he could feel something coming over him now that he took his anger out on something. Grief, a feeling he knew well but nonetheless consumed him in a wave anyways. It was obvious as his shoulders sunk, losing some of the stream he built up.

   Gale stood there quietly, happy she was still wearing her helmet so it wouldn’t betray her inner thoughts. This couldn’t be happening, she thought, the last of her doubts about her dreams washing away. This was real. It happened again, a vision came true. They weren’t dreams, they were visions. She could’ve prevented this by insisting they use the Node plan instead. Behind her she could still hear Cid and Sarah yelling and arguing with Zavala and Ana, but it was muffled in the wake of her swirling thoughts.

    She knew this would happen, in one way or another. If she had spoken up more, if she had not dismissed them for so long hoping they were dreams this might not have happened. In way then, this was her fault. Her denial helped to cause this to happen. That also meant that she must face the truth that her other dreams where she loses everyone are visions as well. They were her warnings that if nothing changed, they were all doomed by Xyer’s hands or Savathun’s.

    “Ash…” Gale choked out as tears welled up in her eyes, “I’m so sorry…”

    Alexander looked over to Gale as she trembled a little, then over to his remaining teammates. Guilt weighed heavily in his heart as well, as he led them down here in the first place. He didn’t need to say a word, Sarah and Cid voiced his emotions well enough, but what he did do was wrap an arm around Gale to try and comfort her as best as he could.

   “If you don’t get out of those tunnels, we’re all going to die, and there’s no chance you’ll be able to find Ash again!” Ana finally shouted back at them, “If Xol gets what he wants, we’ll all be buried under this snow, and he’s free to cause hell! Ash wouldn’t want that! Ash would want you to get up and fight this thing!”

    “Don’t you dare try to tell me what she would want! You don’t know her!” Sarah shouted back.

    “STOP IT!” Gale suddenly shrieked and silenced all of them, “STOP IT! STOP IT!” It was very clear the woman was crying behind that mask, they could hear it, “Stop arguing! Out of all the things we should be doing right now it’s NOT THAT!”

   It got really quiet after that as Alexander pulled Gale a little closer to comfort her. The woman reached up for her helm and pulled it off, trying to dry her tears.

   “… you need to leave her behind. If there’s any chance she’s still alive Guardians, it’s going to be taken away if Xol destroys Rasputin, and you guys might not get to her in time and make it back out.” Ana gently told them.

    “Alexander… you’ve been quiet…” Zavala mused. The titan still said nothing for a moment, looking at his grieving friends, but knowing very well what was at stake here. He didn’t want to admit it, but they were right. They couldn’t stay here.

    “…Are you sure Alex?” Ghost asked as he beeped out his message. Alexander nodded, letting Gale go. “…alright. It’s ok Alex, I understand.” Ghost then turned to everyone else, “We’re getting out of here.”

  “But…!” Sarah started to protest, but Alexander shook his head sadly.

  “They’re right. We stay here, we might all perish. You didn’t feel her die, right? Just that her light vanished. She’s still alive down there, but she won’t be if we don’t stop Xol.”

   Sarah wanted to argue, wanted to shake Alexander, but she knew deep down he was right. She could see he didn’t want to leave her either, but they had to. Instead she swallowed back her words and instead looked at the tunnel.

    “Hang in there Ash. I’ll be back soon. I promise…”

    They all rushed to leave the tunnels, everyone putting back on their helms, and sparing on last look behind them. At the very least, this way they could take vengeance upon Xol. As they ran outside, they could feel the winds picking up, the snow beginning to fly, and it made Sarah all the more furious with everything around her. She hardly was listening to Ana as she gave them instructions to power up the Valkyrie. More than anything she wanted to scream and take her anger out on the damned worm that took Ash away.

   She didn’t deserve to be trapped beneath the ice. Of all people, she deserved it the least.

* * * *

    Echoes seemed to float in and out of her mind in the dark. It was strange being where she was. There was nothing around her, just a blackness. She could hear voices, things she remembered at first. She could hear the anger of her parents calling her Geneva filtering in and out. There were plenty of curses, plenty of tears, the sound of bottles breaking, more screaming…

    You are alone.

    Geneva was lonely, wasn’t she? Vaguely she could recall feeling so alone in that large city she couldn’t remember the name of. She remembered having a select few people that cared about her, but still had many times where she felt so alone. Even when she was brought back, her only company was mostly Shaxx and a couple other competitors. It was Sarah who became her first real friend…

    Sarah… oh how she wished she was here now. She remembered that prank on that stupid man who was interested in flirting with a Guardian, how Sarah laughed for the first time in Traveler knows when. They had been through a lot together… being away from her like this felt wrong. That moment where Sarah desperately reached out for her hand crossed Ash’s mind, and her own hand felt the need to grab onto it. She was her best friend who promised never to leave her. They both should’ve known better than to promise something like that… as things like this… do happen…

    Those thoughts of Sarah drowned out all of Geneva’s sad life. Now she could hear other echoes. They were very distant, but there, familiar. She wondered who it was. Sarah? No it was too high pitched. Gale? Perhaps. The poor woman was probably searching all over. Gale always cared, maybe a bit too much for her own good. Even though she hardly knew her during the Red War, Gale made sure to be her rock when things got rough. She missed when Gale had confidence in herself, when she slept well, when she was happy. She wanted to make Gale feel better many times, but she wasn’t sure how successful she was. At least she had Cid. He was always good for her.

    They were supposed to have a rematch. Ash had been so looking forward to fighting him again. She wanted to prove to him that he had gotten better. At the same time she also wanted to him to let loose a little, have some fun, be alive for a while. The Witch tore out pieces of him that he couldn’t get back, tore people from him, and after everything he had done he still didn’t think it was enough to make up for the sin he committed that wasn’t even his fault. Before her pranks on him were for her own amusement, but after learning of that horrible truth, they were to make him laugh, to smile, just forget his worries for a while…

   Then Alex, who just wanted to do the right thing. Alex who had been lost until he was finally able to cement his place in this crazy world. He always tried to do his best to look out for everyone, always brought them together. He was still young, still learning, but there was no mistaking the hopeful light in his eyes as he looked to the future, the determination he held. Even in less serious moments he still shone so bright, embracing and playing with the Hunter, and learning about the world with her.

_I don’t want to die._

    The thought crossed her mind as she remembered all they been through.

_I don’t want to die. I don’t want to leave them behind. I need to…_

    Fight. She had to fight, like she always had done. Her eyeslids felt so heavy, her body being weighed down, but she forced her chest to rise, her mouth to open to take a breath of air. She could feel her heart beating in her chest as she breathed, in and out, in and out.

  “A…. ak…. er…”

   This voice was clearer. Ash tried to look for the voice but found nothing. She moved her fingers a little, her toes, as she finally forced her eyes open. It was dark and she started to finally notice she was cold…

   “A… er…u….?”

   That sounded like Chie. Ash let out a groan as she started trying to move. Her body felt stiff as a weight seemed to be pressing down on her. Mustering all the strength she could she lifted her arm into the air, and suddenly it burst out of the snow. It was only then she realized she had been buried alive beneath it by Xol. As she thrashed around a little it started to come off, and she was able to crawl out of her icy grave.

   “Oh thank the Light!” Chie cried out and sped right over to her Guardian to heal her. Ash looked to see the place had been buried by the snow above. The light in here was far dimmer now, but she could now see 3 glowing green eyes looking over at her.

_Well you can’t say I didn’t tell you so my dear. It’s impressive though how you’re still alive._

    “What can I say, we’re hard to kill.” Ash groaned as she slowly got up, “I’m surprised you didn’t take your chance to kill me.”

    Xyer shrugged a little.  _I thought about it, but my research was far more important and I was half convinced you were going to die anyways. Unfortunately it seems I’ll be digging for quite a while. Xol seems to have done a great job at burying everything._ Xyer floated over to be a little closer. She seemed to be agitated, but at least it wasn’t pointed at Ash.

    “Where did Xol go?” Ash asked. She couldn’t believe really she was having a normal conversation with a sworn enemy, but if she was to get any idea on what was happening, she had to.

_From what I gather, the Xol is now attacking Rasputin, that great machine that lives here. It’s a powerful weapon, right? So it’s little wonder why Xol wants it gone. We have other plans however, and him destroying Rasputin may put a wrench in things._

     “So you don’t want this thing destroyed either.”

     _I don’t personally care, but Savathun does. Xol is no longer a part of the Worm God Hiearchy, a traitor who made a pact with a heretic to avoid his death from his brothers. As far as everyone in concerned, he’s dead to us. We could take him down, I could take him down, but at what cost? No, it’s better to let that machine or you take care of it._

    Ash glared at her a little. It didn’t sit right with her that killing Xol was also doing Xyer a favour. Just what were these Hive up to…?

    There was an echo through the tunnels and the two of them looked up.

_I don’t know how much longer that machine will last if he keeps tearing up roots. The best way to beat a worm god apparently is to catch it off guard, according to Oryx anyways. Perhaps you could be the element of surprise. As far as Xol is concerned, you’re a dead woman._

    “Yeah that’s great and all but…” Ash started looking around, “How the hell am I getting out of here?”

_…Tell you what my dear. Xol needs to be taken out of the picture. I’ll help you out of here if you kill him. It saves me a lot of trouble, and you a lot of trouble later._

    “Wait, you’re going to help me?!” Ash whirled around and gave her a bewildered look.

_An odd thing, isn’t it? This does not make us friends obviously, I know how badly you want to take me out of the picture, but Xol is the bigger threat. I’ve studied the Machine for a while. It seems to be able to control the weather and tectonic plates on this planet. If this thing goes, the planet will face catastrophic failure. For you and everyone else, that means certain death with no chance of revival, and for me that means the destruction of Nokris’ research. Neither of those things I want, not yet._

    “No pressure or anything.” Ash mumbled, “But you guys don’t do things for free.

 _Xol being dead and having one less rogue element is my price. If you fail however, I will take my compensation in the form of the other Guardians on this God forsaken rock. I know for sure there’s 2 others. At least then I’ll have something to feed this damned worm. But you won’t fail will you? You are resourceful. You can bend that machine to your will, can’t you?_ Xyer laughed a little,  _I help you, you kill Xol, I take a piece of his corpse and use it to fuel a ritual and feed my worm. You then walk free knowing you killed something that would’ve destroyed your people. If you fail, I will kill everyone else here. What do you say? Not that you’ve gotten much of a choice. I don’t see any other way you’re getting out of this._

Ash bit her lower lip. She didn’t like this. She didn’t like making deals with devils. That’s how people get corrupted. That’s how people die. Unfortunately Xyer was right. She had no other way out of her situation. She didn’t see any obvious way out other than the way that was caved in. Xyer most likely held the power to break through it…

    She sighed, “…alright. I’ll bite. Get me out of here and you can consider Xol dead.”

    Xyer giggled,  _Wonderful. I’m glad to see you see things my way!_

    There was a rumble above them again,  _I’m afraid we’ll have to cut this conversation short. Time is starting to run out._  Xyer turned around and looked up to where Ash came out and raised an arm. The snow and the ice clogging the entrance moved to Xyer’s will and came tumbling out, opening a passage for them to get out though. Xyer then turned her and lifted her off her feet, but it felt different this time. Instead of being lifted by the collar, it felt more like she was being lifted up by an arm around her waist.

_I have to admit, I haven’t traveled this way in a long time. I usually go through the Sword World, but I’m not sure if you’d survive the trips I take. So we’ll do it this way._

    Xyer then started to float upwards, taking Ash with her. Chie was right on her heels as they started to make their way out. Ash took the time to look at the damage caused by the collapse of the ceiling. The hive corrosion was partly buried in snow now, and pieces of the floor were missing. As soon as the tunnel opened up she could see the ice shelf had collapsed below, leaving only a thin path. She could see signs the others were here before. There were footprints, very clearly rushing as fast as they could to stop Xol before they all died.

     _Hm, so you did not come alone I see. I should’ve guessed that._ Xyer commented.  _No matter. It seems you’ll have help then taking down this worm._

    They could see daylight now, but there was also a howling of the wind. As Xyer put her down near the mouth, the witch peered out and hissed. Ash felt her stomach twisting into knots as she had a feeling of what the weather was like out there. When she peered out, sure enough, there was a snowstorm violently battering valley.

    _Stupid machine! If it wants help then it shouldn’t make the weather horrid!_

    But Ash could feel something out there. There was a light, no, four of them out there. She could sense them beyond the snow and wind, beyond the fear…

    If she was going to make it to them in time, she had to go out there. They needed her, she could feel it. They needed to get the jump on Xol, to get even one advantage over him. She could feel her guts nervously twist and scream as memories of wandering all alone in the blizzard pricked at her mind.

    “It’s fine.” She spoke up in an unusually serious tone. She held out a hand to Chie for her to transmat her mask, “I can make it through.”

     As scared as she was, she wasn’t going to leave her family to die out there. Xyer looked at her with a strange look. Ash couldn’t tell if it was concern or confusion. Maybe a bit of both.

     _Are you sure? That’s a nasty storm. I can shield you._

    “You Hive always need something in return though, right? You’re going to get something out of me killing Xol, but you won’t get something out of shielding me. You’ll need something else, since the Hive don’t just give.”

    Xyer chuckled,  _You’re a clever girl. Well, either you die in that storm, you die to Xol, or you perform a miracle. I hope it’s the third option._

    “So do I…”

    Quietly she placed on her mask as Xyer slinked back into the tunnels. She took a deep breath and stepped foot into the storm. She remembered now how this was. The cold winds battered against her small body, the winds whipping the snow around, but this time was different. The Celestial Nighthawk kept the snow from battering her face, her hood protected her head, and the thermal suit made it much easier to regulate her temperature. This wasn’t nearly as bad as last time. The snow was still a pain to walk through and visibility was down, but this was something she could bear.

    “Keep an eye out for me Chie. Let me know if I’m walking off any cliffs.” Ash told her ghost, who was now safely tucked away in her hood. Chie could stay out this time so long as she hid here, and started to scan their surroundings to help figure out where they were.

    “Keep going straight.  We’re going to go through a narrow part of the valley and then into a cave that will lead to more of the Warmind.” Chie instructed.

 _Ok Ash, you can do this._  The woman clenched her jaw as she kept walking. She felt her fingers and toes starting to get chilly and numb. She tried to remember what Shaxx had said. She could create her own fires and keep herself warm. Yes, warm, warm, draw out her light…

    She immediately felt better as she could her gloves were glowing a little as they radiated heat, and there was the sound of snow melting beneath her feet. This was going far better than last time. Last time she wasn’t nearly as prepared as this.  It still was slow getting through, but at least she could survive far better.

    Those lights were getting closer, and the wind carried echoes of a battle. Chie chirped that they were almost to the entrance. Ash could tell because suddenly the winds were blowing a different direction as the valley got narrow. Shortly afterwards she could see the mouth of the cave and made one last dash to get inside. She couldn’t help but start laughing in relief once she was finally out of the storm.

    “We did it Chie!” Ash cheered, “Fuck you storm!”

    “Let’s go find the others, and fast!” Chie chimed. Ash nodded and started a mad dash inside. Ice and snow turned into metal quickly as they came back into Warmind territory. It was obvious the others had been here. There were shards of Hive everywhere, along with an alarm blaring off. She had no idea what they did in here, but honestly didn’t really care. She had to find them.

    The doors slid open for her as she ran, and the radio chatter was starting to become audible again, and it didn’t sound promising. Ana was having a hard time getting the Valkyrie going, and she could hear lots of gunfire and Xol screeching and attacking them. Chie and her decided to stay silent, opting for a complete surprise rather than risk giving them away.

    Into the core she ran and skidded to make a left turn and run the rest of the way out. Up a ramp, around a corners, down a few stairs, around another corner she knew she was finally getting close. The last door opened and she could hear the battle clear as day. She sprinted up the stairs on her left and towards the broken tunnels. She came to a stop at the edge so she could see the situation. The Blizzard seemed to swirl all around the battlefield, leaving it clear for the fight. Xol was shooting fire at them from his one eye, there were Hive swarming the battle field, and the four of them were busy trying to fight them all off. She watched as a Hive knight started to rush Cid who was busy with a Wizard, then looked over to Xol who was opening his eye again…

    Ah, she knew how to make her entrance.

    To everyone else, it was very sudden. They were too busy trying to survive the battle to notice the last light coming towards them. Sarah’s Warcliff coil was already out of rockets, as she fired them all at Xol with no luck. She already had a tether going, and was busy trying to clear them all out with Gale. Alexander was still fighting to keep the Hive away from him, and Cid was trying to take out a Wizard. He didn’t see the knight, and the blunt blade knocked him off of his feet and sent him to the ground. He looked up to see the Knight was already raising his blade to come down on his body…

    But he wouldn’t even have a chance. Suddenly the creature’s head was blown off. He looked up to see who saved him, but only saw a streak of solar energy that hit Xol square in the eye and made the creature reel back in pain. Then, right before his eyes, Ash gracefully landed in front of him, a sword in one hand, and a gun in the other.

    “You ok?” she asked. He nodded as he got up.

    “Thank the Traveler!” Sarah shouted as she felt a wave of relief seeing her there. Everyone else started to smile as well, but their happy reunion would have to wait for a bit longer.

    “Ash! You’re alive!” Ana cheered.

    “Alive is a bit of questionable state unless we kill this asshole. Get that Valkyrie going!” Ash told her. Everyone certainly was reminded of the immediate danger after that. Xol looked down at her as he recovered from that blast, hissing and snarling at her.

_So the Little Bird made it out. How then?_

    “Fuck you that’s how. Listen buddy it’s one thing to hurt and threaten me, but it’s a totally different ball game when you hurt my family.” Ash growled right back as the others came to her side. Ash spun her gun into her holster and then reached up to take off her mask. She wouldn’t need it anymore. By the time she could use her Golden Gun again the battle would be decided. Those brown eyes glared daggers into Xol as she handed her mask to Chie.

_It matters not. You will all meet the same fate._

    “You really picked the wrong family to mess with pal.” Ash warned him with a smile, “Cause when we’re done with you, there isn’t going to be much left.”

     Xol opened its eye and let out a screech, summoning more Hive to his side.  Sarah whirled around and shot a void arrow into the crowd that was trying to rush them from behind. Ash charged in there without a second thought, slicing them all away as fast as they could get caught. She could hear the Hammer of Sols flying into Xol behind her along with waves of fire from Cid. Ash wasn’t sure how much damage they were actually doing but it was certainly better than nothing.

    “Auxiliary power online! Get to a node for the Javelin!” Ana instructed. Ash could see it powering up near her. She turned around to see Xol was in pain, but the supers hadn’t done too much damage to the shell. But if this thing was like a worm with a hard shell like an insect, then its vulnerable parts were inside, right? That’s why the eye was so vulnerable. So if the Valkyrie could pierce the shell over and over again…

    She turned around as she heard Xol behind her. He was launching himself onto the battle field and crawling about, trying to crush them. This was a crazy, stupid idea, but she was going to do it anyways. She reached in and grabbed the Valkyrie, feeling how its powers had grown more than ever, singing the same songs of war. She leaped up onto his back, stabbing the Valkyrie and piercing that armor. He let out a horrendous screech and reeled back.  Ash let out another yelp of her own as she was forced to hold onto the Javelin to avoid falling off. He then slithered off of the platform, Ash hanging on for dear life as he went into the air again, trying to shake her off.

    “ASH! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!” Sarah was screaming at her along with several others. Ash paid them no heed as she took out her knife and started to scale Xol with it and the Valkyrie. Every time she pierced Xol he let out a screech and shook about, trying to kick her off. He couldn’t get rid of her though as she kept scaling towards his head, causing more damage all the way up.

   “Ash, this is probably your most dangerous plan yet! If you fall off…!” Chie squeaked at her.

    “I know Chie, believe me I know.”

    Ash suddenly felt a rumble, and the worm suddenly took off for the skies. She let out a scream as they flew up into the air and then down past the platform. She could feel the Valkyrie fading off, and instead took out her other knife, jamming it into Xol as best as she could. The weapon dissipated, and Xol went into the ground, hoping that if he made a new tunnel he could shake off the Hunter. Ash could hear the debris flying over her and didn’t dare to look up, hoping that none of it was big enough to knock her off or kill her. She was just small enough thankfully that the debris flew right over her in the spot she had stopped in.

    He suddenly went upwards and Ash nearly lost her grip as suddenly Xol met no resistance and had a burst of speed. Ash looked up to see that they were heading straight back for the battle field. She could feel her heart hammering out of her chest as the rush of adrenaline flowing through her.

    “Hey guys, mind throwing another Valkyrie my way?” Ash asked.

    “Holy fuck Ash are you high?!” Ana shouted.

    “Yeah, I mean, we haven’t touched the clouds yet but I mean…”

    “NOT THAT KIND OF HIGH!” Sarah screamed.

    “Yeah I know, and no I’m not, but this is working! Seriously!”

    “Ash if you fall off I don’t know if I’ll be able to catch you!” Cid shouted.

    “I’ll be fine! Listen! The next Valkyrie that shows up, toss it up to me, and I think I can finish him off! He’s getting desperate!”

    “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but alright, just hang in there!” Ghost translated for his Guardian as Xol closed the gap between him and the platform the rest stood on.

    “Ash if you somehow survive this, I’m kicking your ass for this one!” Sarah shouted right back at her.

    “Be careful! Please!” Gale shouted.

    “I’ll try to stay close in case you fall, but I can’t make any promises. If Xol kicks you off and then tries to eat you or something, I don’t know if I can save you in time.” Cid told her.

    “Actually, better idea. Cid, if you can get to me, I would like a ride to his head.” Ash suggested.

    “I’ll see if I can get close!”

    Xol reeled back as he tried to shoot a laser down at the ground. Ash peered over and could see that Cid had already taken for the air, dodging the incoming fire. Ash let out a yelp as Xol swung about, trying to shoot the pest that was now starting to fly up towards him. It gave everyone else more breathing room to clean out the newly summoned Hive.

    “Damn it! Hold still so I can get to your back!” Cid hissed as Xol kept turning away from him and thrashing about, making it harder for Ash to hold on. The moment he stilled, she would keep climbing to the top, but those moments were far and few between.

    “The Valkyrie is ready! I hope you know what you’re doing!” Ana told them.

    “I’m going to be honest, I have no fucking clue.” Ash replied, “I’m kind of going on assumptions and hoping and praying.”

    “Ok! Cid you catch it, and then throw it up to Ash! We don’t have a lot of time before this fades!” Ghost called out. Cid flew to be in clear sight of Alexander who gave it a toss towards the Warlock. He managed to catch it, and the Rasputin’s power did transfer to him. He then flew as close as he could get to Ash and tossed it to the Hunter.

    Ash could feel it as soon as she caught it in her hand: that power Rasputin had. She let out a war cry as she jabbed it into Xol, who let out a screech in pain. Up she started to climb again as he thrashed about a little. She was almost to the head, almost to the top. If the Valkyrie entered his brain, it was all over. Ash will have won.

    Xol seemed to know that, and as she finally got so close, he suddenly took off into the skies. Ash let out a scream as she was suddenly forced to hang on as he went straight up. He then started to turn left, the right, soaring above the clouds and in circles.

    For a moment, everything seemed to still. Ash looked over to see that the sun was starting to rise over the cliffs of the Ice Caps. It was the most beautiful sunrise she had ever seen, the light shining above the clouds and the storm below, making it sparkle from the ice. The red sand seemed to glow with the shimmering snow lacing its borders.

    She then looked up to see the Valkyrie starting to fade. She reached down for her other knife, only for her hand to hit her sword. Her eyes widened a little as she got an idea. She didn’t need the Valkyrie. She just needed fire and her sword. She was no Warlock, but if she channelled her light through her sword, that could act as a Dawnblade.

    Xol started to move downwards. Ash pulled out her knife and let herself slide down a little to where she needed to be. She jammed her knife to stop her from going too far. She then unsheathed her sword and stabbed it straight into Xol’s skull. She felt him jerk up in pain, screeching as he started a descent towards the platform below in one last attempt to kill the creature on his head. Ash held onto her sword tight as she took a deep breath, gathering up all of the light she could muster…

    She started to smile a little. Her body was suddenly lit ablaze along with the sword in her hands. It burned fleshed, boiled blood, charred the grey matter that the sword had pierced. It started spreading throughout his insides as Xol came crashing down onto the platform. His body was burning up as the fire raged on, quickly consuming his body. It was a slow, painful death for the creature as his head would scream as he lost sight, hearing, consciousness…

    Ash finally let go of the sword as she felt the last of the light she could give slip away. Below her was a burning mass that was quickly disintegrating as she stood up. She could feel how heavy her body was, how exhausted she was as she started to trudge off of worm, forgetting the sheer size of it. Everyone down below gawked at her. They didn’t know what happened up there, but they knew it wasn’t the Valkyrie that finally brought the God down. It was that tiny woman, often called Little Bird, who now looked far more like an angel of death with the way she stood now. As the ashes flew into the sky with the embers, the storm around them began to clear and allow that beautiful sunrise to shine on Ash.

    As beautiful as it was, the woman had clearly overexterted herself. The moment she stepped foot off of the creature, she simply fell forward towards the ground.


	8. Ash

    Seeing the worm God crash into the battlefield in a blaze was one of the most beautiful things Zavala ever witnessed. Seeing the girl who was so often called ‘Little Bird’ or ‘Little Miss Cruicible’ rise from the ashes was even more extraordinary in his mind. It was hard to believe all he had witnessed watching the entire thing at Ana’s side.

    “I can’t believe it! She killed a Worm God!” Ana cheered, but their mood took a turn downward when they watched the woman stumble and fall off of the burning body. They watched as she was caught by Alexander who helped her to the ground. The three others surrounded her, Gale throwing down a healing rift and the other two kneeling down to her height. Ana and Zavala quickly decided to run for the battlefield as the storm finally cleared up, intent on making sure the Hunter was alright.

    Chie was already on her Guardian who was in Alexander’s arms, doing her best to restore some of her energy. Sarah had thrown off her mask (that Kiki had picked up) and was kneeling over her, holding onto one of Ash’s hands.

    “Ash! Ash wake up! Please wake up!” Sarah shouted at her. She had been awfully pale when Alexander had caught her, but now some colour was returning to her face. She seemed to stir at Sarah’s voice before slowly opening her eyes. Wearily she looked up at Alexander then to Sarah, and then over to Cid and Gale before giving a smile.

    “Heheh…. guess we win… huh?” Ash managed to say. She then found herself being wrapped up in Sarah’s arms and being pulled out of Alexander’s hands. She could feel Sarah holding on so tightly, and even though she was yelling, Ash knew it was because she had been scared.

    “What the hell were you thinking?! Do you have any idea what could’ve happened?! I thought I lost you! I thought you were dead! Then you show up and you pull a stunt like that! You could’ve died! Permanently!” despite Sarah’s yelling, Ash could hear some hints of sobs and feel her body wrack a little. She knew Sarah well enough, the woman was on the brink of tears.

    “I know…” Ash found the strength to reach up and hug the other woman, “I was a real dummy… haha… guess I can’t yell at Cid for being a dummy doing the hero thing anymore…”

    That seemed to get a small chuckle out of Cid who took his own helm off. Ash looked over and could see the weary relieved smile on his face, echoed by Gale right beside him.

    “I was so worried about you damn it! If something happened to you I…! I…!”

    It was about then Ash could fell a few tears hitting her shoulder. She knew this was coming. Sarah could yell all she wanted, but Ash knew it was from a place of love, not malice. Sarah would never hurt her, just shout when she did something stupid like jumping on the back of a Worm God. It was because she had been scared and she was just so damn happy that Ash had lived despite it all.

    The feeling was echoed by the others, as they all came close. Ash found the smile growing on her face feeling the warmth Sol and the tingle of Arc past the Void. This was a real loving family, nothing like what she had before. She could feel her brothers holding her close, her sister curled up beside them with her arms around her and Sarah. Poor Sarah was crying, but it was because she was so relieved that Ash was alright. Ash wearily ran a hand up and down Sarah’s back to try and comfort her.

    “Hey… I’m ok. I’m sorry I scared you like that. I uh… probably scared all of you with that…”

    Sarah shook her head, “I’m just happy you’re here.”

    They all glanced over at the sound of footsteps. They could see Ana and Zavala running up to them. Alexander gave them a thumbs up above their little hug to try and ease some of their worry as they all slowly let go. Ash reached over to Alexander so he could help her stand again. She found herself wobbly on her feet, but thankfully the titan was right there holding onto her shoulders gently to help support her.

    “Are you alright?” Zavala asked. It was a bit of a silly question, but he needed to ask anyways.

    “Yeah big blue, just over did it a little.” Ash smiled and waved him off, “Just give me a bit to get my bearings.”

    “I still can’t believe you did that.” Ana shook her head, “That was both the scariest and most awesome thing I ever saw.”

    Ash grinned ear to ear and laughed a little, “I can say the same for actually doing it. I don’t recommend it.”

    “Do it again and I will throw you into the next river we find.” Sarah frowned at her and crossed her arms. That got another chuckle out of Ash.

    “You’re laughing now, but I’ll probably be helping her.” Cid said with a hint of a smile.

    “You know you love me.” Ash grinned, then her face started to turn into a frown, “So uh… I guess there’s something we still gotta take care of now huh?”

    “Indeed.” Zavala turned towards the facility, “I still don’t know about this.”

    Ana said nothing for a moment, but when she did open her mouth, the answer greatly surprised Ash, “You know… I’ve been thinking a lot lately. I’ve found some… things this place was working on… and knowing about Davis and Natalie I…” Ana looked up at the facility, “I’m… not so sure about my family anymore. I know my sister, but not Clovis… not…”

    “Let’s go talk to Rasputin.” Ash spoke up and grabbed everyone’s attention, “Let’s see what he stands for now. That matters a hell of a lot more than what he was really built for.”

    “He might end up lying to us.” Sarah noted.

    “If he’s a liar I’m going to shoot him in the face with a Golden Gun.” Ash replied, her frown deepening a little. He reached up to Alexander’s hands and motioned for him to let go of her. She was fine now and he did as was told. “Just because he’s a big weapon doesn’t mean we can’t kill it. I mean, we just killed a fucking worm god and I killed its priest. Cid here,” she motioned to him, “helped to kill mother fucking Oryx. I feel like Rasputin is just a bit up the ladder here.”

    “Let’s go see what Rasputin has to say for himself, and then we’ll decide.” Ghost translated.

    “Sounds like a plan to me. I’d like to hear him explain away some of what he did.” Cid nodded.

    “Perhaps we can even get some answers to the collapse.” Gale added.

* * * *

    The room that housed Rasputin was massive. When the final door was opened for them they were greeted by a blinding red light. Upon closer inspection, this was the cords of energy they had been seeing all along, now in a far more massive bundle. The walls were lined with warsats, just waiting to be launched, data flowing in and out of the great machine. Ana couldn’t help but smile a little as she walked closer to the core. The long platform only extended to halfway across the room, and on the other side was a small terminal, just waiting for authorization.

    “Holy fucking shit….” Ash mumbled as she walked right behind Ana. They all stopped in front of the console, looking down at the screen showing where the next wave of Warsats would be launched.

    The core made a loud digital ringing sound which startled all of them. It then began to speak in a language no one knew… except for one…

    “The… Bray family…” Ana started to repeat his Russian words in English. Her memories of that language was starting to come back to her the more Rasputin spoke, “shaped me to be… an all seeing saviour… while your Vanguard…” she turned to Zavala, “Sought to wield me as a primitive weapon.”

    Zavala chewed his lower lip as he gazed upon the core. Nerves bundled up as the energy pulsed with the words Rasputin spoke.

    “But today, that ends.” Ana turned to the console, “And I define the reality of my own existence. My sight will stretch to the edge of this system and beyond. Never again will a threat go unseen. From this day forward, I will defend Humanity on my own terms.”

    Gale’s eyes slowly widened as she heard a very familiar speech from her dreams. It had the same effect of sending fear into her heart, especially as Ana spoke what it meant.

    “Я - Распутин. У меня нет равных.”

    “I am Rasputin…” Ana turned towards them, “I have no equal.”

    Ash studied Ana’s face. She seemed more convinced than anyone that Rasputin was telling the truth. The last sentence seemed to shake everyone else, including Ash herself. Uncertainty laced everyone’s being, and Ash couldn’t blame them. But she remembered the position they were in. They were going to be invaded one of these days by a Hive Goddess who would try to avenge Oryx. There was no Awoken Armada to save them this time, no Eris with her magical rock. They needed Rasputin’s help, more than ever.

    She took a deep breath, thinking for once before speaking loud and clear so Rasputin could hear her.

    “Oi, Rasputin. Can you understand me?” Ash asked as she stepped to be beside Ana.

    Rasputin did answer, and Ana smiled a little as he did, “I can. You’re that person who destroyed that Worm.”

    “Yeah. You got access to that employee database? If ya do, you might recognize me a bit.”

   Ash reached back and pulled out the elastic holding her bangs out of her eyes. One side fell in front of her face and covered up her eye. Rasputin paused for a moment, scanning her over, before replying.

    “So you were also brought back from the ashes, Geneva Kolestov.” Ana spoke for him.

    “You could say that yeah, but my name is not Geneva, not anymore.”Ash reached up and started to tie her bangs back up and out of her face. “Geneva died a long time ago, and I was brought back in her place. Ash is who I am now. I don’t need to see any more of my past, or find out who I was as Geneva. I’m happy being Ash. I don’t want that to change. What about you Rasputin? You’ve seen a lot, haven’t you? Are you happy with who you are now?”

    Rasputin didn’t answer, so Ash continued.

    “I’m gonna be honest Rasputin, there’s a shitshow coming. That worm we just took down, well there’s gonna be someone similar to him coming. She’s probably even worse because she has those weird Taken powers. Her name is Savathun, and she’s pissed that we took out her brother a while back. We’ve lost a lot lately, and we really need help keeping her from finishing off what Oryx and his son started, which is killing us. You saw how they’ll kill you too, didn’t you?”

   Xol and Nokris weren’t with the main pantheon anymore, Ash knew that. Xyer had said though that Savathun had something in mind for the ‘Great Machine’ which still put him in danger as well.

  “Listen, I don’t know you.” Ash walked to the very edge of the platform and sat down, her legs dangling over the side, “I don’t know who you are as a person, but I know you want to stay alive. I know you can either save us, or destroy us. I know you’ve been alone for a long time. I also know that if I wanted to, I could destroy you with this gun to eliminate any possibility you’d turn on us like everyone is worried about, but I don’t want to do that. I much rather you help me protect these people behind me, and then some. I’m not gonna ask this for free obviously. There’s gotta be something you’d want. Upgrades? Fixes? A friend?”

    Zavala seemed absolutely baffled by the fact Ash was talking to him so casually, but no one else seemed that surprised. Not to mention she was offering Rasputin services?! Why would she offer Rasputin of all things a trade like he was a…

   An ally. She was recruiting him as an ally to the city in a proper way. They did that for Osiris, and now for Rasputin, two people he never thought he’d ever be allies with. They made the city stronger, would defend them from the next threat. That was what Ash had been after this entire time. She had no intentions to control him, just wanted his help, and it was working. He was responding. Ana was smiling so bright listening to Ash talk to him.

  Rasputin then spoke and Ana repeated it back, “You are a strange one. I recognize you as a person who has great powers, and I am glad you are recognizing me as a person with their own will. You ask for my help, but you are asking me if I want something in return? In truth, the only thing you can give me is knowledge. I want to know how the world works now. I’ve only seen what my active nodes tell me.”

   Ash nodded with a small smile, “Yeah, that’s something we can give you, right Zavala?” Ash turned back towards the Titan. He seemed to muse for a moment before nodding his head.

   “Very well.” Ana felt her heart lifting as she translated what he was saying, “You may consider me officially an ally. I will help to bring down this Savathun you speak of, and whatever else may come humanity’s way. I recognize you as Ash, and as acquaintance.”

    Ana then looked down to the terminal and noticed Geneva’s file was pulled up. The entries were all blank however before everything updated.

Name: Ash (Formerly Geneva Kolestov)  
Age: ???  
Gender: Female  
Height: 5’3  
Weight: 130lbs  
Occupation: Guardian. Ally.   
Relations: ???

    The picture changed to one the scanner had picked up when it had been scanning Ash the other day. It was a bit of an amusing picture since she seemed rather confused, but far better than the dead-eyed one of Geneva. Ana looked over to Ash who stood up with a grin.

    “Alright Rasputin, let’s shake off the dust and get to work then. We gotta make sure you’re ready to go for when our friend shows up.”

    A screen came up on the terminal now. It was requesting authorization to launch the new Warsat, and to give Rasputin complete automated control over it. Ana, now more confident than ever, placed her hand on the scanner who recognized her.

    “I’m glad to see I wasn’t wrong.” She mumbled.

    Zavala still wasn’t all that sure, but he couldn’t deny how proud he was of the hunter.

* * * *

    “You are the craziest person I know, just saying.”

    They all stood around as Ana did a system check to assess the damage done. Ana’s cheeks were starting to hurt because she couldn’t stop smiling at the result of everything. It was also hard not to smile at Sarah calling Ash crazy and the light banter going between those 5 Guardians.

    “Yeah, but you love me.” Ash grinned.

    “Well thanks to you we just got a Warmind officially in our corner.” Ghost piped up, “So I’d say crazy is not such a bad thing.”

    “Never thought I’d see the day when we’d have Rasputin back up and running and on our side. Saladin’s not gonna be too happy, but…” Cid mused.

    “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. I just hope he’ll be… reasonable.” Gale managed a small smile, but inside her thoughts were still in turmoil. These dreams worried her, especially knowing full well what was coming. She didn’t want to put a downer on the mood however. At least, she supposed, they didn’t run into…

    “Hey, I’ve been wondering.” Alexander spoke up, his ghost translating, “What happened down there? How did you get out of the tunnels Ash? We tried to get to you but it caved in again.”

    Ash started to chew on her lower lip, “You’re not gonna believe me when I tell you.”

    Ana stopped her work right on cue. Zavala who had been looking around also paused and looked over to the hunter. That didn’t sound like a brag of any kind. It sounded like something happened down there, and it was quite serious.

    “What happened…?” Sarah asked nervously.

    “Our old pal Xyer was down there.” Ash answered. Everyone was naturally shocked, but Cid seemed to visibly tense up hearing that name, following slight panic.

    “Are you ok?! Did she do anything to you?!” he immediately asked. Ash reached up to his shoulders and gave them a firm pat to try and calm him down. It was only natural he would react this way, considering her other crimes.

    “I’m fine. She didn’t do anything to me other than that weird levitation thing and not knowing what personal space is.” That seemed to soothe him thankfully and she lowered her hands as he relaxed. “I fell in just as the ritual ended, then she popped out of a hole in reality. She was sorting through scrolls and shit, looking for Nokris’ work on resurrection. I got caught and had to play nice so she wouldn’t slit my throat. She said that she needed the research in case something goes wrong in her plans. She actually wanted Xol and Nokris dead because they were in her way. Then the place gives a shake and she lets me go. She’s actually freaking the fuck out, which is weird to say the least.”

    “Why was she freaking out?” Sarah frowned a little as she crossed her arms.

    “Remember how you said you saw a statue of Nokris on the Dreadnaught?” Ash asked. Cid nodded in response, “Nokris is apparently another son of Oryx. He was the one who got casted out. So Xyer runs off to avoid a fight and leaves me to deal with him. I kill the bastard, Xol comes along and buries me under some snow, I come to and Chie helps me out.”

    She wasn’t going to say the details, not right now. She didn’t want to think about them.

    “Xyer’s also in the room with me. She’s kinda pissed that all his stuff’s buried now, but she’s not trying to kill me anymore. She knew about Rasputin and how if he went, the whole place could come down. She also said Savathun has a plan to deal with him and him being gone might throw a wrench into it, so she asked me to kill Xol.”

    “Wait, what?”Ana looked at them with a rather confused look, “I’m lost. Who is this Xyer?”

    “She is an enemy of the city. She has caused the loss of many civilian and Guardian lives. We believe she may be attempting to ascend to a godly level. We’ve yet to have any luck finding her.” Zavala explained. He was leaving a lot out, but Ana didn’t need to know the details.

    “Anyways, she said to me that she’d get me out of the tunnels, and in exchange, I would kill Xol so she could take a piece of him for a ritual. If I failed, she would go after and kill everyone here on Mars.” Ash shook her head, “I didn’t want to take her up, but there was no other way of getting out there. I watched her tear the rocks out of the tunnel in one motion. She then picked me up and flew to the entrance with me.” She looked up at Cid, “I’m sorry. I should’ve fought her or done something else but I…”

    Cid shook his head, “Don’t worry about it.  I much rather you here and alive than for her to have hurt you.”

    She smiled hearing that, “We’ll get her next time. Promise. We took down a worm god? We can take down that bitch too.”

    Gale smiled a tiny bit hearing that, but it quickly faded as she held her hands together to try and hide how nervous she was. With that admission, every single part of her dream was confirmed. She knew without Ash even telling her what she endured down in the depths, something she could’ve prevented. It was the other things that scared her now more than ever. Xyer’s wicked smile, her glee as she tore apart lives, tore apart everyone, burned things to the ground, those sorts of dreams pricked at her mind cruelly: telling her the worst was yet to come…

    “Gale?” Sarah suddenly asked. Gale didn’t even realize she was looking down at the ground, and when she looked back up she could see the four others she’d witness die again and again looking at her in concern, “Are you ok?”

    “Fine.” She answered without even a second thought, “I’m fine.”

    It was clear no one believed her. Their first thought was to immediately question her, but a small beep from the console Ana had been working on stopped them from doing that. Instead they turned their attention to the screen that read “Incoming ship.”

    “Who the hell…?” Ana started to ask as she frowned. She then jumped over the railing onto the ground floor and ran out the door to a more opened area. As everyone else followed, sure enough there was a Guardian ship on route towards them. Ana seemed to light right up seeing that ship, and Ash already had an idea on who was about to transmat down.

    She was a larger woman, but it just made her look far stronger. She was clearly a warlock from how she dressed herself, darker skin with dark tight curls tied back into a large pony tail with hooped earrings framing her smile. Ash knew who it was before Ana even spoke.

   “Camrin!” she called as she ran right up to the woman. Ash watched her grin ear to ear before catching the hunter in her arms. Zavala seemed disgruntled about something, but the look Cid and Sarah shot him silenced him from intruding on their moment. Zavala most certainly knew Camrin, who had said over and over that Ana Bray was dead and she had been in the Bray archives because she was researching. He was far more annoyed that Camrin also lied to him than any sort of endearing affection.

    “You are never going to believe what’s happened in the last, what?” Ana turned towards Ash, “48 hours?”

    Ash could feel a sense of fatigue when she said that number, “Something like that I think. It’s been a wild fucking ride.”

    Camrin raised a brow looking over who was here, “I can see it was something big. What? Did Rasputin turn out to be evil and you all fought it?”

    “No! Rasputin was helping us! He’s an ally of the city now!” Ana cheered. It was adorable how happy she was, especially as Camrin seemed to light right up hearing the news.

    “That’s wonderful! I’m so glad! So then,” Camrin looked at the crowd, “Who are all these people? Other than Zavala of course.”

    “The ones who made it possible.” Ana replied, looking directly at Ash who contributed the most. With a grin, Ash walked up to Camrin who let her girlfriend go. She noted that Camrin’s right arm she reached out with was not of flesh and bone, it was prosthetic. Perhaps something happened in her first life? Ah well, it didn’t make her any less human.

    “I heard a bit about you. Nice to meet you. I’m Ash.” The hunter greeted and shook the other’s hand.

    “She’s amazing. She took down a worm god!” Ana added.

    “A what now?” Carmin asked as she let Ash’s hand go.

    “A worm…”

    “No I heard what you said.” Camrin looked at Ash like she had 2 heads, “You’re either real brave and strong, or real crazy.”

   “It’s all three.” Sarah shrugged. Ash just giggled, holding her cheeky little smile. Sarah would never admit it, but it was adorable.

    “Well, I guess that means we better get to work. I’m sure there’s lots in here that’s just waiting to be found again.” Camrin placed her hands on her hips as she looked up at the facility.

    “No offense but uh, can I skip out some work?” Ash asked as her smile dropped. She reached up to rub at her eye, starting to feel the fatigue coming over her, “After all this, I think I just want to go home.”

    “Oh Light yeah. Absolutely Ash.” Ana nodded.

    “I second that. I think it’s time to go home.” Sarah sighed, “Before you get into any more trouble.”

    “Had enough heart attacks Sarah?” Cid lightly teased.

    “I’m surprised you didn’t have a stroke after all this.” She sassed right back. Camrin started laughing.

    “I’m sure whatever happened here was more than enough excitement. I’m just glad everyone’s ok.” She then looked at Ash with a gentle smile, “Thank you though for helping Ana.”

    Ash nodded, “Yeah. Anytime.”

* * * *

    A few days later, Ash found herself rather bored at the tower. The second they got home, Ikora and Cayde were all over them wanting answers. She had so proudly said they now had Rasputin’s help then. She wouldn’t be forgetting how their faces lit up as Cayde threw his hands in the air.

  “About damn time! It’s only taken us, what, a couple centuries?”

   The next thing he did though threw Ash for a bit of a loop. He then knelt down a little to Ash’s height and asked if she was ok. Ikora also stopped for a moment when he asked. Ash just smiled back with a nod, and the EXO put a hand on her head.

  “Good! That’s all we needed! Ramen’s on me tonight kid.”

   “Not a kid!” she protested, puffing her cheeks out.

   That had been a while back. Now she was sitting on the railing, watching the birds and the pieces of the Traveler fly about. They never did find out what was bothering Gale back there. The second they got back they got bombarded, and the Warlock had slipped away in the chaos. It was a bit worrisome, but the hunter was sure she would catch the woman sooner or later.

   “You think they’re gonna find stuff in there?”

   Ash knew Sarah was there before she even spoke up. She was referring to Cid and Alexander who decided to delve into the secrets of the facility today. She turned on the railing to see her better, “I hope so. I mean, if Mars is the cradle of invention, something on EXOs should be there.”

    Sarah nodded a little as she walked to be beside her and leaned up on the railing, “I sure hope so. Hey, how have you been holding up?”

    Ash shrugged, “Been getting bad dreams, but I’m ok. Coffee helps.”

    “Dreams of Geneva or what happened down in the caves?” Sarah’s face turned into concern.

    “Both, but I’m fine. Promise. They’re just bad dreams. They can’t really hurt me.”

    “If you’re sure.” Sarah sighed a little.

    “What about you? You’ve been sober for a long while. You holding up good?”

    Sarah smiled a little and nodded, “Yeah. I’m a lot better than I have been in a while. I still get the occasional shitty dream, but I mean… who doesn’t at this point after all we’ve been through?”

    “Yeah.” Ash nodded. Speaking of awful dreams, she noticed another light rushing right for them. The boys were on Mars, so there was only one other person it could be. Maybe they might get some answers out of her this time.

    “Oi, what’s the big rush?” Sarah asked as she looked up at the Warlock running up to them. Ash turned herself around on the railing to give Gale her full attention as she quickly closed the gap.

    “N-Nothing!” Gale stuttered as she caught her breath. Ash tilted his head slightly and frowned, “I-I just wanted to say hi but there were so many people at the hangars. Big day or something!”

    “Uh… ok?” Ash replied as she raised a brow, not believing her for a moment. She was a horrible liar.

    “Anyways! Um…” Gale fidgeted a little, “I was wondering if we could watch more of that series? The one I fell asleep through?”

    “Dragon Ball Z Abridged?” Ash asked.

    “Yeah! That! I feel bad for falling asleep…!”

    “I mean… sure, why not? I’ve got nothing else to do.” Ash shrugged. She still wasn’t sure what this was all about but maybe this way Gale might open up a little. As she started to lead the way to her dorm, she didn’t catch Gale whispering in Sarah’s ear, and the Hunter lighting right up. The girls quickly caught up, and Ash was even more confused as to why Sarah was suddenly smiling.

    “Uh… is there something on my back?” Ash asked.

    “You’re fine. Come on, let’s binge watch this stuff.”

    And they did. Ash seemed happy that the girls seemed to enjoy it. There were plenty of times where Gale would say ‘oh that’s terrible!’ but would clearly be half laughing anyways. It was the desired effect Ash wanted of making her cheer up at least. Ash could settle for that for now. She wanted to ask Gale what she was hiding, but the Warlock would change the subject or Sarah would grab her attention instead. Something was up here, but she was far too busy enjoying time with the girls to really let it bother her.

   At the end of the Cell saga, Gale excused herself for a moment, then peered back into the room.

    “Hey, can we go to the hangars for a bit?”

    “Why?” Ash asked tilting her head. They had been in here for a few hours now. Now that Gale mentioned the hangars she could vaguely make out 2 lights that were over there.

    “I’ll bet you the boys want to show us what they found.” Sarah smiled as she stood up. She knew they had been back for a while now, but Ash had been far too distracted to notice.

    “Oh yeah! I want to know too!” Ash beamed as she jumped off of the bed. “I’ll bet they found some great stuff!”

    Gale and Sarah shared an all knowing look that was missed by Ash. Now it was phase 2 of their little plan. As Ash skipped over to the hangars, the two made sure to keep up. As she was just about to turn the corner, Sarah grabbed her wrist to stop her, and then covered her eyes.

    “What?! Hey! Sarah! What gives?”

    “Hm? You thought you’re going to see the loot first? No, I want first dibs.”

    “Heeeey!” Ash whined. She immediately picked up that this was also odd behaviour. Sarah didn’t care much about stuff. Something was going on here, and it just made her all the more antsy.

    “Saraaaaah! What are you guys up to?” Ash whined as she was led down the hall.

    “Nothing? Why do you think we are up to something?” Ash could hear the teasing tone in her voice and heard Gale race on ahead.

    “Saraaaaah! I know you’re up to something! You and Gale have been acting weird!”

    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

    “Muuu! Tell meeeee!”

    They came to a stop somewhere. She could hear some snickering around her hearing her whine. She could also hear something being moved around as well. It sounded like something metal.

    “Alright, we better not let our girl squirm anymore.” She could hear it was Amanda’s voice talking.

    “I don’t know. It’s kinda funny.” That was Cayde’s voice.

    “Oi! It’s not funny!” Ash shouted. Her complaints were echoed by light hearted laughter.

    “Alright Sarah, you can let her see now.” Gale gently chided. Sarah took her hands off of Ash’s eyes. There before her stood Cid and Alexander with Amanda and Cayde off to the side. What drew her eyes though was a sword that was in between her two friends. It looked like something straight out of a Golden Age movie, with the handle in the shape of a rapier’s handle but more sturdy to handle the weight of the blade. It was hollow inside that blade, with a strange little diode looking thing. The whole thing was laced in tech, but it looked beautiful.

    “What is that…?” she asked, clearly in awe.

    “According to what we could find, it’s called Worldline Zero. The moisture and cold hadn’t been kind to it, so we’ve been spending all day fixing it up for you.” Ghost explained for his Guardian.

    “Wait? For me?” Ash looked up at Alexander and Cid who both gave a nod.

    “Yeah, why do you think we went through all of this to keep you away from the hangars and why Sarah was covering your eyes?” Cid asked with small smile.

    She seemed to light right up hearing that. She didn’t even hesitate to run forward and try to hug both EXOs at once. Her arms were too small however, so she opted for squeezing Cid’s waist first. She felt gentle arms wrap around her, something she was even more grateful for now. She then let go of him and turned to Alexander. The Titan bent down and lifted the Hunter right off of her feet in a bear hug, grinning ear to ear. Ash started laughing as she hugged his neck, always happy to get these sorts of embraces.

    “Thanks guys! Seriously!” she giggled as Alexander put her back on 2 feet. He seemed rather proud of himself.

    “What? I don’t get a hug? I helped restore it!” Cayde complained.

    “Yeah but you didn’t help find it.” Amanda rolled her eyes. Ash grinned at him before skipping over to Cayde and also giving him a hug, which he clearly didn’t expect.

    “I… alright uh…” Cayde slowly lowered his arms to wrap around her.

    “Thank you.” She then said and looked up with a small smile, “For everything you’ve done.”

    “…your welcome Ash.” He seemed to know what she meant. Thank you for helping me back then, thank you for helping me find my way, thank you for being my Vanguard.

    “Awww… that’s sweet.” Amanda smiled at them both as Cayde let her go, “You can just give me a high-five girl if ya want.”

    Ash nodded and jumped up a bit to high-five Amanda’s hand, “Alright, now test your new toy out! Cid says it’s got a fun little kink in it.”

    “Well, it’s more than that.” Cid added as Ash hopped over to the blade. She picked it up in her hands. It was a little heavier than she was used to as she swung it around to get a better handle on it well out of the way of anyone. She noticed her hand was around a button, and when she squeezed it, the sword started to spark and flow with arc energy.

    “Whooooa. So that’s what those diode thingies are for.” Ash commented as she gazed at the blade.

   “Not just that.” She heard Cid behind her as he walked up to her. She looked up to see his hand pointing towards the other side of the hangar that was currently clear, “I want you to run over there, and when you’re at your fastest, jump and hit the button again.”

    She nodded, taking a step back and running towards the other side. As she picked up speed she then hopped up a little and hit the button again. Her arm almost instinctively swung back, cutting the air in front of her. It was about then when she realized it was actually kick back as her body was suddenly forced forward through the space she cut through so quickly. To anyone watching, it seemed like she simply had blinked forward like a Voidwalker, landing a distance away from where she first was.

    “Ho… holy shit…!” Ash stared wide eyed at the sword and then back to everyone else. Cid was nodding confirming that she did the right thing. She grinned as she ran back towards him, blinking through the air to land just a short distance away from him.

    “You see what we had to fix now?” Cid asked.

    “Yeah! This is awesome!” She turned to everyone else. Sarah and Gale both seemed quite surprised, but the others already seen it in action while they were fixing it. They had to test and make sure it worked after all. “Shit, I need something to test this out on…!”

    “Well, we did say we were going to have a rematch…”

    She didn’t think she could’ve gotten any happier, but the second Cid said rematch she immediately felt a rush of giddiness. She nearly squealed hearing that as she jumped up in excitement.

    “What the hell are we waiting for?!” She shouted before grabbing his hand and starting to run towards Shaxx. She could hear the giggles and chuckles behind her as she practically dragged the poor man who couldn’t really keep up with her at full speed despite appearances. They dashed through the Courtyard towards the back. They could already hear Shaxx shouting at a guardian, trying to tell them to relax and failing miserably.

    “SHAXX!” Ash shouted as she skidded to a stop right in front of him. Cid only just managed to stop himself before he barrelled right into her while the other Guardian made a break for it, “Do you have a free small arena?!”

    The big man was clearly surprised to see her. He glanced to her new sword, then to the EXO who was clearly trying to gather himself again, and then back to her grinning face.

    “What kind of question is that? You two want a match? I will happily set it up! I must say, you’re looking excited! That’s good! After all that stuff Cayde’s told me, I was starting to worry.”

    “I’m fine!” She grinned, “Don’t worry about me. You worry about all the other newbies you gotta shape up!”

    “I’m glad to hear it. Well, I’d say tomorrow around 2 in the afternoon should do it. Do you agree?”

    “I can work with that.” Cid nodded with a small smile.

    “So can I!” Ash nodded. She then turned to Cid and handed him the sword. Shaxx tilted his head slightly as Ash turned back towards him, looking up at him with those eyes. There was one last person to thank for Ash after all. It was Shaxx that gave her a name. It was Shaxx who gave her a home. It was Shaxx who helped her along her way until she didn’t need him anymore, just as he always did with new Guardians beneath his wing.

   She had to jump, but she did manage to get her arms around the large man’s waist, squeezing tight as her feet dangled above the ground. He seemed rather confused as well, but slowly held the hunter back in return.

    “Thank you… for everything…” she mumbled.

    Cid could hear him smiling when he spoke next, “Of course. Listen Ash, I want you to know how proud I am of you. You’ve made a name for yourself out there, fighting the good fight.” He then put his hand under her arms and lifted her up so she could see him better. He could see how she was getting teared up hearing all of this, “You are amazing. Don’t you forget that. You’re always welcomed in the cruicible, but your place is out there now. You’re a fine hunter, one of the best. You’ve proven it in the Red War, and now you prove it again on Mars.”

   Ash felt her eyes burn as she smiled. She knew very well he was saying nothing but the truth. It was… wonderful, knowing that he was proud of her, but she couldn’t explain why. When she thought on it later, perhaps it was because after having parents who were always disappointed in her, the have praise from someone who practically raised her in her second life was a blessing. She reached over to hug him again, and he brought her closer to do so, wrapping his arms around her smaller body. After a short moment, he put her down on her feet.

    “Now! Make sure you both prepare yourselves! I look forward to this fight.”

    “Yes sir!” Ash gave a mock salute, refusing to cry in front of Shaxx and trying to use humor to stave it off. She then quickly turned and took the sword out of Cid’s hands. Chie manifested to take it off of her hands, and once she did, Ash reached up and her Ghost close to her face as a way to hug her.

    “Thanks pal, for giving me a second chance.” She mumbled as she started to walk away from Shaxx with Cid, towards the family she loved.


	9. Final Warning

    Useless, useless, useless, more useless information.

    In truth, she really didn’t know what exactly she was looking for. She woke up after another one of those nightmares, taunting and warning her of inevitable fate. She seemed like a possessed woman as she feverishly looked through the first book she found, her eyes glued to the pages as she stood hunched over. People in the library gave her plenty of space, unsure whether or not they should find someone to get this poor woman help or just leave her to her devices.

    This book wasn’t as helpful as she’d like. These were interviews from Earthborn Awoken who seemed adamanant about keeping the secrets of the Reef safe. She was getting a few things out of this however: Awoken live naturally forever. They obviously can be killed, but without someone stopping their heart, they couldn’t die. She felt something clawing at the back of her mind learning that though, trying to remember something she forgot, something important.

    Her name is on the tip of Gale’s tongue, it always has been, but she can’t say it. She can’t seem to form the letters.

    Another thing she was getting was that Queen Mara Sov was not a nice person, which sounded like part of the reason people left in the first place. She was mysterious, aloof, and in her own strange ways, a little cruel. ‘Have faith in the plan’ she would say without telling them what exactly that was. She also could feel a sense of distrust when Mara Sov was mentioned. She may have the best intentions, but Gale couldn’t help but feel anxious when she thought of her former Queen.

    It didn’t matter she supposed. Mara Sov was dead… wasn’t she? How could anyone survive the blast from the Dreadnaught?

    Awoken also got dreams. Often they were symbolic in nature, warnings, and they were meant to be taken seriously. Gale swallowed dry reading that, knowing it was normal for them, and now it happening to her as well. They say they don’t always come true, but the ones that don’t are usually very fuzzy.

     _Is there any way to change fate?_

_Ienzo: I’m sure there is, but I’ve yet to find it. I had a dream once that I would lose my dear cat to a car. I kept her inside after that, but even though I avoided it at the moment, I couldn’t avoid it forever. One day I opened the door and she ran right out. She didn’t even see the vehicle coming._

    “You got to be kidding…” Gale mumbled under her breath as she lowered the book down a little. She had to resist the urge to throw it against the wall. Was this person saying that no matter what she did, she couldn’t change the events? She couldn’t save any of them from being killed?! No, no, no that can’t be right…

    She forced herself to keep reading, but all she kept getting were examples of people who tried to change things but ended up fulfilling their dreams anyways. She bit her lower lip as she turned the pages, her grip becoming more rigid. She didn’t want to accept their final deaths were inevitable, and at the hand of that witch of all people. There had to be something she could do. There had to be a way to save them. There had to…!

     _That’s a rather sad way, knowing fate can’t be changed_

_Zephyr: Indeed it is. She’s a cruel mistress that makes me fear for the future. When I dreamed of fire raining from the skies, the Red War came. When I dreamed of an explosion that shook the world, the Traveler Awoke. Now I dream of a cruel Goddess, on her way to avenge a brother. I dream of a second collapse…_

   With no warning, Gale turned and threw the book down the isle. As she turned and started the motion, she could see 4 very familiar people standing there. She was been so occupied with reading she didn’t even realize that they showed up to check on her. As the book went flying, Cid moved his head to the right, Ash simply looked up, and Alexander and Sarah behind them ducked to get out of the way. Gale’s eyes widened seeing how she almost hit them.

    “Oh my light! I’m sorry! I didn’t see you there…!” She instantly started to ramble, feeling awful for doing that even if she didn’t mean to.

    “It’s fine,” Ash nervously laughed, trying to defuse the tension with a bad joke, “I’m sure the book had it coming.”

    “Gale? What’s gotten into you? What’s wrong?” Cid asked as he came closer to her. She lowered her head in shame, clasping her hands together. Alexander turned and picked up the book she was reading: Stories from The Awoken People. He turned to a random page and could see her thumbs had made indents because she had been squeezing the book so much. It was right on the first interview. The man with a cat who got ran over…

    “It’s… I’m…” Gale started to say, trying to find some excuse.

    “Don’t you dare say you’re fine.” Sarah growled as she narrowed her eyes, “That’s bullshit and we all know it.”

    “You weren’t watching the match when you said you would.” Ash shook her head. Gale honestly forgot that Cid and Ash were going to have a rematch, “That’s not like you. We cancelled cause we thought something’s up. Looks like we were right.”

   Gale seemed to clamp right up. She wanted to tell them what was bothering her, but her voice and words seemed to be failing her.

    “Y…you shouldn’t have… not for…” she stuttered out instead. She then felt Cid’s hands on her shoulders and could hear him kneeling down a little to her height, trying to look her in the eye. She didn’t dare look up. She could only imagine the look on his face right now, and if she saw it, she didn’t think she’d be able to hold herself together. She was barely doing that in the first place.

    “Gale… please.” He spoke so gently, so kindly, it made her slightly sick with guilt, “You told me later you’d tell me what’s wrong. This is later. I don’t know what this is, but I know it’s been eating at you for a while. You don’t have to be facing whatever demons you are alone. You know that. I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s wrong.”

    She had been an awful hypocrite, hadn’t she? She visibly tensed as Cid spoke. He sounded like he was going to patiently wait there until she gave him something, any hint as to what was going on. This was familiar, but last time it was the other way around…

    “Why were you reading this?” Alexander’s ghost piped up for his Guardian. Gale didn’t move, but the other three looked at the Titan who held up the book, “I understand wanting to know more about your past, but then why did you throw the book? It’s mostly about the Awoken abilities, like dreams and…”

    Both Guardian and Ghost stopped as they came to a realization. Gale said she had been getting nightmares, but what if they were more than nightmares? What if they were visions? Predictions? It seemed like Gale had been wondering that herself, or perhaps figured it out and wanted more information.

    Everyone else seemed to click in as well as they turned back to the Awoken. She said nothing still, even as Cid gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze.

    “Gale…” he gently said, making her even sicker. He called her name again, and she made the mistake of looking up at him. He was worried, she knew he would be. He looked at her, searching for answers as to what was wrong with his best friend. His whole posture was calm, but she could see the slight stiffness from anxiety that gnawed at him. Past that she could see the concerned looks of the other three, wondering for just how long had this been going on for?

    These people loved her. They wanted to help. Could she tell them though that they were going to die at the hands of that witch? Could she tell them that she saw everything and made no effort to change it because she was in denial?

    She felt her eyes stinging as she got choked up. Somehow, something in the back of her mind told her ‘not here.’ If she was going to break, it wasn’t going to be in a library. She reached up and took Cid’s hands off of her shoulders, but held onto one tightly like her life depended on it. Wordlessly she looked at the other 3 and motioned for them to follow her out. Silently they all walked out, Alexander putting the book back on the shelf as he walked past. They followed her to their favourite little quiet spot.

    When they got there, Gale stopped in the middle of the couches and turned back to Cid. In the end, the look on his face is too much for her. There was nothing but love there, just wanting answers so he could help her. She let go of his hand and wrapped her arms tightly around him, the first few sobs starting to come out of her throat. She could feel his one hand on the back of her head and the other on her back. She could feel the thinner right hand, a constant reminder of what the witch did to him, and would do. She squeezed him even tighter, her sobbing muffled by his body. She could feel another body behind her, Ash, wrapping her arms around her. She already could feel the solar energy from the smaller woman as she did her best to comfort her. Another set of arms now, this time Sarah who was running a hand up and down her back to comfort her. Last was Alexander, who was able to get his arms around everyone and hold them all close. Then came her ghost who nestled himself in the crook of her neck to try and help.

    They couldn’t hear anything as Gale cried. There was no hint as to what was making her feel this way. All the same they would stand there as long as she needed them to be there. Cid mumbled gentle reminders to her. They were there. She was going to be ok. They were here for her. Everything would be ok…

    “Everything WON’T be ok!” she suddenly shouted, muffled by his chest, “It’s not ok! Nothing’s ok! I’ve been getting nightmares, but they’re more than nightmares! They’re visions! I hoped they weren’t because I was scared and because of that you all got hurt! I knew Panoptes would do that to Sarah! I knew Xol would do that to Ash! And I did nothing! I was too scared of them to think they were real!”

    Their eyes all widened hearing that. She knew all along what was going to happen? She said she had been scared though, but why? Why was she scared?

    “Gale…” Cid gently mumbled, about to tell her that it would be alright, but she cut him off before he could.

    “I’ve been getting visions where you die! All of you! Permanent deaths, all of them awful, horrible! And I can’t do anything!” Her voice was getting louder, and they could feel her tremble. “That fucking Witch kills all of you! All I can do is watch! I can’t stop it! I can’t move! I’ve watched you all die again, and again, AND AGAIN! SHE DOES AWFUL, HORRIBLE THINGS! SHE MAKES EVERY ONE TERRIBLE AND DRAWS IT OUT! I DON’T WANT THAT! I WANT TO STOP THIS BUT ALL I’VE BEEN SEEING IS THAT I CAN’T! I DON’T WANT ANY OF YOU TO DIE!” her voice lowered in volume a little bit, but not by much as her sobs laced her word, “None of you deserve what’s going to happen to you! The way you all die…! After all you’ve been through…! It’s too cruel! Why? Why couldn’t it have been someone else? Anyone else? Why does it have to be all of you? At the very least, why do you all suffer? If one of us does, why not just…”

    Just me? That was left unsaid, but Cid understood it loud and clear.

    “Gale, I don’t…” Cid started to say again, but her next screams completely silenced him.

    “DON’T START THAT! THE THINGS SHE DOES! YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE TO GO THROUGH THAT! I SEE IT EVERY NIGHT! OVER AND OVER YOU ALL DIE! OVER AND OVER I’M HELPLESS TO SAVE ANY OF YOU! I CAN’T REACH FOR YOU! I CAN’T EVEN OFFER MY LIFE TO SAVE YOU! I’M FUCKING USELESS AND I CAN’T SAVE ANY OF YOU! I HEAR YOU SCREAMING FOR HELP BUT I CAN’T DO ANYTHING AND…! AND…! And…!”

    Her rambling and screams spiralled back down into helpless sobs. Her throat was now so dry from screaming so much, and she could feel the weakness in her legs and a headache starting to form. It was hard to watch and hear her like this. Cid could feel her hands digging into his back as she clung onto him. He only held her tighter, keeping her from collapsing onto the ground in the middle of everyone.

    “Shh… you’re not useless, don’t start thinking that again.” He murmured to her. As he did, she could feel a gentle wave of Solar washing through her. It was familiar, calming, and was the first step into soothing the woman who was beyond distraught. She also felt the gentle lights from the others holding onto her, doing their best to help her at her lowest.

    “B…but…! How…? How do I…? Fix this…?” Gale’s voice was so muffled that they could barely hear her, “I can’t… I don’t want to…. lose anyone…!”

    “You’re going to start with breathing. You need to breathe Gale.” Cid reminded her. He was almost certain she had not taken a proper breath this entire time, and perhaps was even in danger of passing out. She felt everyone slowly letting go of her except for Cid who shuffled her over to the couches. She felt him shift his arms and he scooped her up and sat down, letting her sit on his lap and shifting his arms again to hold her. Her arms were around his neck now as she cried into his shoulder. She could hear him ask Sarah if she could get her some water, and the hunter ran off to do just that.

   “Breathe Gale…” Cid gently reminded her, “You need to breathe…”

 _I can’t_ , she wanted to say, but she forced down a breath of proper air instead. She could feel the nausea getting worse, but she forced herself to take deep breaths.

    “That’s right, you got it. In and out.” Ash told her as she sat down beside them. She breathed in and out with her, trying to help calm her down. They all felt a sense of relief as Gale finally seemed to slowly be soothed. Alexander sat down beside Ash, letting his friends take care of her the best they could. He glanced over to see Sarah rushing back with a bottle of water and taking a seat on the other side of Cid. As her cries quieted down into sniffles, Gale turned to face to the side instead of burying her face in her friend. She still was holding onto him, but now her arms were around his waist, her legs folded up against her body. Her ghost had since moved to nuzzle against her cheek and trying to dry her tears.

    “Oi, you’re gonna need this.” Sarah told her and offered the water bottle. Just seeing it made her throat ache even more. She straightened herself up a little and quietly took the bottle. The water certainly helped a little with the sickness she felt at least.

    “Better?” Sarah asked.

    “A little…” Gale croaked. She reached up to her face to start drying her eyes as best as she could, placing the sealed bottle next to them. At least she was finally calm again, but there were plenty of questions now that needed to be answered.

    “Gale…” Ghost piped up, but paused for a moment as his Guardian tried to find the words, “Listen… I know it’s hard but… you need to tell us what happened in those dreams. If we know what happens we can maybe avoid the outcome.”

    “B-But… but what if we can’t?” Gale stuttered out.

    “We’ll find a way.” Alexander nodded firmly as he leaned forward. “If you can, let’s start with the first one. What happened? What do you remember of that dream?

    She felt Cid gently squeeze her arm in reassurance. Gale bit her lower lip, trying to reach back to that memory that was getting fuzzier with each day.

    “I… I saw dead bodies on the ground. Guardians, all of them, with their ghosts all destroyed nearby. It was a dark room, I didn’t know where I was. I… I came to two lit up pedestals. On one was a teddy bear and on another there was a rabbit. I reached out to grab the bear but when I did, the rabbit suddenly was ripped to shreds by something I couldn’t see. After that I heard… a…”

    A laughter, a laughter she knew well.

    “There were a lot of dead Guardians alright.” Sarah mumbled, “But it wasn’t you who was made to choose.”

    Gale shook her head. Cid found himself tense thinking back to that day. Gale had said all the examples she found said that fate was unavoidable. If Edna had not acted, he knew what he would’ve done in the end, as much as he hated to admit it.

    “What about the one about Panoptes?” Ash asked.

    “I was on Mercury. I had never been before but I was in the exact same place we always went to, right in front of that gate. I went inside and I saw Sarah talking to Sagira while she was still possessing Kiki’s shell. I chased after them through the hall but when I got to the other side I… I was in a house.”

    “A house?” Sarah tilted her head.

    “To be more specific, it was a living room, I think. There was this little girl there. She… she had to have only been 2 or 3 at the most. She looked a lot like you Sarah, now that I think about it. She kept asking me where her mom was but it was… wrong, all wrong. It’s something straight out of a Golden Age horror film. Then…”

    She found her words failing her again, especially with Sarah right there listening intently. She wasn’t sure she should say what happened next, considering what happened to…

   “Gale…” Sarah spoke up. Her hands were in her lap, and her face was soft and understanding, “It’s ok. We just need to know what happened.”

    Gale swallowed back and tried again to find the words, “It… the child she… she started bleeding black from her eyes and her mouth. I got scared and fell on the floor. She then turned around and said she found her mom. When… when I looked up I… I saw you… You were… were…” Gale felt another comforting squeeze, trying to encourage her, “You were chained to the ground, and the kid started hurting you. I ran and tore her off of you, but then Panoptes grabbed me through the window. I saw Mercury in complete darkness, a sea of vex watching as he killed me…”

    Gale curled up a little more into herself as Sarah bit down on her lower lip. Ash found her stomach churning. She also knew who that little girl was, and what Panoptes did to her in the final hours.

    “…just about everything turned out right, but the place was the tower, and that doll didn’t start bleeding or anything. Probably would’ve if I had decided to stay there with her.” Sarah quietly replied, “…I don’t like that it was even remotely accurate though.”

    “What about Mars? You saw what was going to happen?” Ash asked.

    “I was wandering in a storm by myself when the ground caved in beneath me. I fell through this tunnel, Rasputin giving that line of who he is and that he had no equal. I fell onto an ice shelf, and when I walked into the next room there was Xyer, searching through runes and scrolls. Suddenly she gets scared and runs off, and Xol comes after me. I felt… I felt like the air was being taken out of my lungs, that I was cut off from everything. He said to me that I was alone, and that I would… would drown in the deep as he seemed to choke me out…”

    Ash visibly tensed hearing all of that. Immediately they all looked at the hunter who hadn’t told them yet what Xol did to her. Ash chewed her lower lip a little before speaking up.

    “Yeah… every single part happened in some way or another.” She confirmed.

    “So then… these dreams where we die…” Ghost mused.

    “I… I’m in a dark room. I can feel that something’s wrong on my left side.” Gale brought up her hand to her left shoulder, “Like… like my arm’s gone. I feel like I’m barely conscious, and I look up. She’s there, smiling at me. I… I hear you Cid, yelling at her to leave me alone. You’re right behind her and you can’t seem to get to me. Everything happens so quick after that. I watch Alex come barrelling out with a hammer in hand, and she just lifts him up and throws him into the ground. She then… then…” She felt Cid’s hand running up and down her arm, trying to keep her calm and let her keep speaking, “She picks you up and just… tears you to pieces like you’re made of paper. I can hear screaming, and I’m not exactly sure who it is. She then suddenly whirls around and picks up Sarah who was trying to sneak up. She does the exact same thing she did to Edna… and then Ash runs up with her sword. She… she grabs her by the neck and squeezes until… until she’s not moving…”

    Hearing how each of them die made them all uncomfortable needless to say, especially Ash who found herself raising her hands up a little to shield her neck. Still, there was one more death not yet mentioned…

    “Then… Cid you… you beg her to hurt you instead. You tell her to leave me alone, and in exchange, she…. she could do whatever she wanted. She agrees and… and…” Gale moved her hands to cover her own face, “Oh Light…! What she does to you! I remember screaming and trying to get to you but I can’t! I could hear you crying out but I can’t do anything to save you.”

    “Gale…” Cid cringed at his own question before it even came out of his mouth, “What… what does she do to me?”

    Gale shook her head in response, “I… I can’t! It’s awful…! I can’t… I…! No one should ever have to go through something like that! No one! Not even the most depraved of creatures.”

    Considering what else Gale described, they could only think of one thing. It was a special kind of evil someone could do to another. Cid tensed up a little, not wanting to think about it and knowing full well if that’s what it took to save not just Gale, but any of them, he would endure it. He felt an odd creeping feeling through his body, more than fear, disgust was mixed in there too.

    Anger was what the other three felt. If Alexander could’ve, he would gone right up to Xyer, slam her into the ground several times and then throw her into an incinerator for even thinking about doing that. Ash would’ve tore the woman apart with knives, and Sarah would beaten her to a pulp. Unfortunately those options weren’t available for them, so all they could do was sit and simmer.

    “That is not happening.” Sarah hissed between her teeth, “I don’t care what laws of time space we have to break, that shit is not happening, especially that.”

    “Fuck these visions.” Ash growled, “We’re going to tear that bitch apart. We’ll find a way. Nothing’s going to happen to anyone,” she looked over at Cid and Gale, “Especially you two.”

    “You can’t promise that. We don’t know if we can avoid that. I want to, believe me I do but I…” Gale started to say.

    “We’re going to try.” Ghost firmly spoke for his Guardian, “Let hell or high water come I am not going to let any of this happen without a fight. We will kill her. We will prevent this. We just need to be careful. The second vision didn’t go according to plan right? Some stuff was different?”

    “Y…yes…” Gale nodded in agreement.

    “That means they’re variable. What’s going to happen isn’t set in stone. We can change what will happen.” Cid looked down at her, “These are warnings Gale. If there is any margin of error, we can exploit it and avoid it.”

    She wanted to believe him but, “All I’ve read is that… is that you can’t escape forever…”

    “Well, these people aren’t Guardians, are they?” Alexander commented with a small smile. “Now that we know this was can actively work against it Gale. It’s going to be ok.”

    Gale said nothing for a moment before looking up at Cid, “…you have to promise me something.” She straightened up and reached up to the sides of his face, “No matter what happens, you will not give yourself up, for anyone. Promise me that if it comes down to it, you’ll run away and get help instead of sacrificing yourself.”

    He could see tears welling up in her eyes. He gently reached up to one of her hands and curled his fingers around them, “…you know I can’t promise that.”

    “Please! Just for once in your life think of yourself! Think of what this will do to you! You’ve been through enough!” a few hitched sounds came out of her throat, “Even if you gave yourself up do you really think she wouldn’t just kill us all anyways?”

    Cid’s gaze drifted to the side for a moment. She had a point, but he still would do it if it bought someone else time to go get help.

    “So please… I’m begging you,” He looked over to her as she felt her hands move his head slightly, “Don’t give yourself up, ever.”

    He closed his eyes and let out a breath through his nose. He didn’t like lying to her, but if he said yes, she would calm down. She needed that far more than the truth that he would give himself up a thousand times over if it meant his family could live.

    “…ok.” he gave her hand a gentle squeeze, “I promise.”

    She nodded and turned to the others, “That goes for all of you. Promise me you’ll never do that.”

    There was silence, for truth be told they could also not promise that. They loved each other too much, and didn’t want each other to suffer. Still, one by one, they all agreed that.

    “That goes for you too then.” Sarah looked directly at Gale, who didn’t think her deal would get bounced back at her, “You don’t get out of this either.”

    Gale bit down on her lower lip before giving a nod to an unfair promise. She shifted to lean up against Cid once more, feeling a sense of fatigue coming over her now that all of that was in the open. She lowered her hands and let them fall across her abdomen, letting her head droop a little as it leaned against him. It was comforting to her at least to be held, even if it was starting to lull her to sleep. She could hear Alexander reach over and pull Ash into a little hug before they slid over to be closer. Void energy quietly laced all of the Solar energy drifting through, making her a little more sleepy, a little more comforted.

    “Hey… you gonna…” Ash piped up after moment. Gale glanced over, unsure whether or not she was being spoken to, “You wanna maybe… take a nap or something in my room? Then you won’t be alone when this vision comes looking for you. I’ll just binge watch some movies or something for a while.”

    Ash had offered before, and when she had fallen asleep accidentally on the pillows it had been a very comfortable rest. She would like to sleep, but sleeping alone? She would certainly appreciate the company now, more than ever.

    “…ok…” she softly squeaked out. Before she could even attempt to get up, Cid already was standing up with her in his arms. She didn’t protest against it, in fact it was welcomed at this point. She lightly shut her eyes, not thinking she would drift off right then and there. The last thing she heard was Cid reassuring her one last time.

    “We’ll take care of you. We’ll find a way to avoid that fate. I promise.”

    Taking the quiet routes, they did get her to Ash’s room with little trouble. By then she was sound asleep, and no one wanted to wake her. Carefully they placed her in the bed and placed the covers over her. Ash let out a sigh and sunk down on one of the pillows on the ground.

    “Well fuck me sideways…” she sighed.

    “Rather not, but I know what you mean.” Sarah sighed and rubbed at her temple, “There’s got to be away around this shit though right? We couldn’t have done anything different the first few times because we didn’t know.”

    “I’m going to find that book she was reading again and maybe a few others. We need more information.” Ghost chirped.

    “I’ll go ask Ikora. She might know some more or can point us in the right direction.” Cid added, then gave a worried look over in Gale’s direction, “I knew something was wrong but…”

    “This ain’t on you, don’t start that.” Sarah piped up, “What matters now is that we know and now we get to figure out how to kill that bitch without all of us ending up dead. I’m going to start looking into anything we got on her. Maybe her first victim might’ve left some hints.”

     “Dredgen Yor you mean?” Cid asked.

     “Yeah. I doubt it, but anything we can get could help. I’ll take it as the Thorn itself hasn’t been found?”

     Cid shook his head, “It’s been months, nothing. Either it’s been destroyed or someone found it and has been stupidly hoarding it.”

    “Let’s hope it’s the former.” Sarah then looked over at Ash, “You good to keep an eye on her then?”

    “Yup! You guys find out what you can. I’ll watch her. If anything happens, Chie will come running.” Ash nodded as Chie came out of hiding.

    “Alright. Thanks Ash.” Alexander looked up at the other two who gave him a nod and started to head out the door. Cid paused for a moment in the door frame, turning to look at Gale one more time, still worried about her.

    “Hey, I’ll take care of her.” Ash smiled a little and gave him a thumbs up, “Nothing’s gonna happen under my watch.”

    He gave a weary smile in return, “I know.” He then shut the door behind him and began to quickly walk over to Ikora.

* * * *

    This was not like all her other visions. This one was so clear. She was sitting on a bench in what seemed to be a garden.  There were many foreign plants all around her, nothing like on earth, yet she knew them. They felt familiar, like she had seen them before. Looking around she could see in the distance buildings that rose up to the cosmos make of stone. Awoken made. The names of each of the towers she saw seemed to be on the tip of her tongue but she couldn’t seem to quite get it out.

    Her gaze then turned to be directly in front of her. For a moment she wondered if she was looking in a mirror. There was a hedge forming a wall with a gap just big enough for 2 people to pass through. Through that gap she saw a girl sitting on a bench who seemed just as confused as she was. She had longer hair than she did however, her bangs swept across her right side. Looking at her more, Gale could pick up that the woman’s features looked very similar to her own. It wasn’t just the golden eyes or the out of control flaxen hair. The way her nose was, the way her cheeks were shaped…

     The woman stood up, her face turning into one of shock. Gale could see beneath her armor she was a muscled woman, shown even more now that she was standing. Gale stood up as well, raising a hand to perhaps calm this person. This person? No, Gale thought. She was far more than another person. She looked different in body shape and hairstyle but her face… she knew this face. As she cautiously took a few steps closer she kept studying the other’s face, trying to figure out where she knew her from…

    “Gale?”

    When the woman speaks it hits her like a ton of bricks. Her eyes grew wide hearing her own name come out in that voice. She’s heard it a thousand times, no, far more than that in that voice. She’s heard it in echoes clawing at the back of her head about a sister. A sister named….

    “Jeanie…?” It comes out so naturally. For a moment her eyes see her last form, one of a smiling girl with short hair, far more chubby than she was now. Another she remembers her clinging onto her elder sister as she was about to march into a suicide mission to buy the people of a settlement time. Then she remembers treating people with her sister at her side along with other Awoken who came with them. The more she stood there looking at her younger sister, the more comes back to her, all the memories tied to her.

    “H-How did…? What’s going…?” Jeanie cautiously walked towards Gale. Somewhat in a daze, Gale walked towards her as well, meeting her in between the two hedges. Jeanie was just a little taller than her, not by much, now that they were standing in front of each other. Slowly both girls reached out for each other, Jeanie’s left hand reaching for Gale’s right. Their fingers touched first, and then weaved together. In that moment, all of those memories Gale needed were back in place, and she completely remembered her Jeanie Glassford, her younger sister, and the one that had been nagging at the back of her consciousness for so long.

     “You… you made it out…” Gale breathed, “You must have… I died because…”

     “Are… are you real?” Jeanie’s voice quivered when she spoke. Gale looked up into her eyes and could see tears forming in them. That’s right… when Jeanie last saw her was shortly before she died…

     “I’m real.” Gale squeezed her hand, “I’m real, I promise. I was brought back by the Traveler.”

     Jeanie shook her head as she raised a hand up to it, “This has to be a dream… this has to be… I mean…!” Jeanie looked all around her, “How the hell did we end up back in the Dreaming City? We haven’t been here since…!”

    A dream… yes it was a dream, but it wasn’t just that, was it? It was another vision, it had to be. It had to be something of that calibre, reminding her of her sister’s existence. But if she was having a vision, did that mean her sister’s life was in peril? Her visions never bode well…

    Gale let go of her hand grabbed onto Jeanie’s shoulders, “Listen to me. I don’t know what’s going on, but you need to tell me where you last were before here.”

    “Before here? I-I was at… fuck…!” Jeanie raised a hand to her head as she tried to remember.

    “Please Jeanie! Try to remember where you are and tell me! I’ll find you! I’ll keep you safe…”

    “I-I was at…! I…!” Jeanie started shaking her head.

    A loud boom echoed overhead of the sisters. Gale pulled Jeanie into a protective hold without a second thought. The ground beneath them started to shake, and there was a sound of the earth cracking as the winds suddenly picked up all around them. When she looked up, she could see the sky had grown dark and the plants all started to turn a sickly black. Gale wasn’t sure if it was because she was waking up or this was part of the vision.

     Suddenly from the ground a black tendril shot out and grabbed hold of her sister’s waist, ripping her right out of Gale’s grip. The elder sister let out a shriek as she ran to grab her sister’s hand. Jeanie was letting out panicked cries of her own as she struggled to get away from whatever this was.

    Gale then felt something around her own waist just as she grabbed onto Jeanie’s hand. It pulled her away from her sister, and she was finding that she couldn’t hold onto Jeanie’s hand for very long.

    “I’ll find you!” Gale shouted, “I promise I’ll find you!”

    Arc then surged from her body as she let go of Jeanie’s hand. She felt the tendril let go of her as she blasted it with the power of the storm surging throughout her body. She could see Jeanie staring at her in awe as she struggled…

    But Gale would never be able to grab her hand again as the connection was finally cut.

* * * *

     Watching old videos helped to pass the time, but Ash still found herself restless. They seemed to just flow from one problem to the next, and this time they only had a few days before this one sprung up. They were always going to go after Xyer, but now it was looking like less of a good idea if living was high on their priorities. Normally death didn’t phase any Guardian, but they had been dancing on a thin line lately. It was so easy to die permanently now with these highly powerful enemies knocking at their doors.

    She hated it. She wanted everything to just leave them alone so they could go back to feeling somewhat normal.

    “Ash…” Chie squeaked and grabbed her attention.

    “Yeah?” she raised a brow, not really looking at her.

    “Does Awoken Skin glow that bright when they sleep?”

    Ash was completely still for a moment before jumping to her feet and rushing over to the bedside. Chie was right, the light that usually softly danced across the Awoken’s skin was glowing in strange patterns. Normally it was wispy and hardly noticeable if you weren’t paying attention, but now it was strikingly bright and was even able to radiate some light.

    “Go get the others, now!” Ash shouted and threw open the door for Chie to speed through. The ghost didn’t need to be told twice and zipped right out of the hall and was out of sight. Ash closed the door and saw Gale’s ghost waking up and suddenly freaking out seeing the display on his Guardian.

    “Gale! What’s happening?!” Winter shouted as he scanned her, trying to find the source of this.

    “Has this never happened before?!” Ash asked as she came right back to the bedside.

    “Never! I’m detecting a surge of Light but it’s not her signature! What is going on?!”

    Now that Winter mentioned it, Ash could feel the surge as well. It wasn’t Arc though, it was Solar, which was the weirdest part. It wasn’t a solar light she knew either.

    Just like that however, it suddenly stopped. Suddenly the surge was gone and her skin was back to normal. A second later, Gale’s eyes shot open and she bolted upright in bed with a gasp, startling Ash and Winter as she did so. For a moment they stared at each other, all in a state of shock for very different reasons.

    “…you uh… you ok?” Ash finally asked.

    “I…” Gale shook her head a little as she raised a hand up to it, “I’m fine but…”

    Jeanie. Gale’s eyes widened a little before she leapt out of bed and grabbed Ash’s wrist. She seemed half ready to go straight out the door.

    “Whoa whoa whoa whoa hey! Hey! What’s gotten into you?!” Ash shouted.

    “My sister! We need to find my sister now! She’s in trouble!” Gale yelled back as she started to drag the poor hunter towards the door.

    “Sister?! You never mentioned having a sister!” Ash tried to yank back on her arm to get her to stop.

    “I just remembered her now! I had another vision and I need to find her!”

    “Oi! Just hold up a sec!”

   The door suddenly swung open. The two girls stopped and stared at the other three standing in the doorway along with Chie. All of them seemed half ready to throw down or to grab Gale and run her to the infirmary. Right behind them she could also see the Warlock Vanguard who looked far more confused than anything else.

    “What the fuck just happened?!” Sarah shouted first.

    “That’s what I wanna know!” Ash pulled back on Gale’s hand and managed to free her wrist.

    “What do you mean, what happened? I had a vision!” Gale replied.

    “Yeah that’s not all that happened. Sit down. Now.” Sarah scolded her.

    “What do you mean that’s not all that happened?!”

    “What in the name of the Traveler is going on?!” Ikora shouted above everyone else. They all stopped for a moment and looked at each other. At this point, it was hard to say where to even start.

* * * *

    “I see…” Ikora mused after being filled in. “And this surge of Solar is new?”

    “Completely new.” Winter nodded as he scanned over Gale one more time to make absolutely sure she was fine, “And now you remember your sister?”

    Gale nodded, “Yes… her name is Jeanie, and I think she’s still out there somewhere.”

    Cid remembered her mentioning something like a sister before. She could barely grasp the memory, but she recalled calling someone a sister before. It seemed that whatever happened unlocked all of those memories.

    “What is she like?” Sarah asked. She folded her arms, pursing her lips. She was already trying to think of where she could’ve seen this Awoken out in her travels.

    “She’s… changed, I think… I…” Gale reached up to rub her temple, “They’re fuzzy but… I remember her with shorter hair and she wasn’t nearly as strong as she looks now. She used to be chubby but she’s grown since then. She has my eyes, hair, and skin, and our faces look pretty similar. I remember her being… cowardly and innocent. She used to hide behind me a lot when faced with people she didn’t know. She was happy though, a good girl with a good heart…”

    “I’d hate to tell you this, but she better be in the city. Those kinds of people don’t last long in the wilds, and if she is still out there in the wilds, she isn’t going to be the same girl you knew.”

    “She’s changed, I can tell you that now, but she’s still my little sister! She was…” Gale looked down to her lap, “She was scared… and the way she looked at me I…” She raised her hands up to her face, “Oh Traveler… it’s been 20 years and it took me this long…!”

    “We’ll find her.” Ghost’s voice echoed the confident tone of Alexander, “We’ll find your sister and bring her home.”

    “I’ve got a few places in mind to where she could’ve ran off to. A few towns in the outskirts, hopefully not the reef though…” Sarah mused, knowing full well it was still considered a danger zone.

    “I’ve finally managed to get in contact with Petra Venj.” Ikora spoke up. Cid raised his brows hearing that name, “She’s confirmed that things are stable enough, but it’s still a disaster up there. I can ask if she’s seen your sister, but I can’t make any promises. As for these dreams, keep an eye on them. The Solar surge though… where on earth could that have come from…?”

    “I don’t know, but I don’t like it.” Ash frowned.

    “What if…” Cid started to say and grabbed everyone’s attention, “And… hear me out, but what if this just gave us the key to avoiding our own fate. The Awoken are powerful beings, right? What if she has the power to turn things in our favour?”

    “Even if she can stop only that telepathy bullshit that tips everything in our favour!” Ash sprung to her feet, “We can break shields, but the whole lifting things with her mind is fucking us over. Do you think Jeanie could actually figure out how to counteract that with Awoken space powers?!”

    “She never did the display anything like that, but it’s not out of the question.” Gale nodded as her face lit up, “I remember vaguely most Awoken have some strange and outlandish powers. We never did really test our own. But if…” her face suddenly gloomed up, “But I don’t want to put her in danger…”

    “I’m afraid you might not get a choice if you want to live.” Ikora shook her head sadly.

    “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, we need to find Jeanie Glassford. There’s got to be some evidence of her existence somewhere.” Ghost chirped and then turned to Gale, “Do you have any idea of where she could’ve gone.”

    “I remember the day I died the ship was heading straight for the city.” Gale mused.

    “If that was only just over 20 years ago someone must remember her. You don’t forget Awoken who come in off of a ship 20 years ago.” Ikora nodded in agreement, “There must be something left of her existence here and that could lead to where she is now. As for you,” Ikora looked at Gale, “I want to keep an eye on you, just in case.”

    “Was she a nurse like you?” Ash asked. Gale gave a nod and Ash put her hands on her hips as a response, “There we go, we have a start. An Awoken that looks similar to her that worked in a hospital, even for a little bit, is going to be memorable.”

    “I’ll head out to the outskirts and see if I can find anything out there. Might be worth looking at.” Sarah nodded.

    “Let me look in my records, and I’ll send word with my Hidden to see if they have any idea of where she could be.” Ikora added, “I just hope she left a trail for us to follow.”

    “I don’t know how much my sister’s changed, but she seemed different. I don’t know what on earth she could be doing now…” Gale mused as she sighed.

    “Either way, we have time now. Let’s get to work.” Ghost spoke for Alexander before turning to Gale, “Are you going to be ok?”

    “Y…yes…” Gale stood up, “I’ll go ask the hospitals.”

    “I’ll come with you.” Cid spoke up. She looked over at him and saw he was offering his hand. She managed a small weary smile and took it.

    “Maybe I’ll go with you then Sarah.” Ash added, “And Alex, you go with Ikora to help look?”

    The Titan nodded. With that, everyone left the room and broke off into different directions. Gale felt Cid gently squeeze her hand as they walked.

    “…Cid?” she asked.

    “What is it?”

    “How did… how did any of this happen?” They both stopped as Gale looked up at him, “Do you think Jeanie’s out there in the wilds all alone? I feel like she wouldn’t have changed so much if she was still here in the city.”

    His gaze turned downwards for a moment, “I don’t know.” He then looked her in the eyes and gently placed both hands on her shoulders, “Listen. Whatever happens, you’re not alone ok? I’ll be with you until the bitter end, whether that comes from Xyer, or someone else. You’ve done a lot for me, you’ve helped me through a lot, so please, let me help you now. It’s my turn to help you.”

    His words were sweet, and were nothing but the truth. Gale couldn’t stop the smile growing on her face as she reached up and put her hands on top of his, “We’ll find a way to avoid everything… right?”

    “That’s right. We’re also going to find your sister. If nothing else, you deserve to be with her again. Were you close?”

     Gale nodded, “…very.”

     “Do you want to tell me about it?”

     “…on the way there.”

     They walked towards the ground level of the tower to catch the bus into the city. The afternoon seemed so dreary as it threatened to rain. It was fitting, they supposed, especially as Cid listened to the tale of 2 sisters…

     They would not find Jeanie Glassford in the city. She left a long time ago, and is on an adventure of her own. Their fates would reconnect once more, but sadly, it would be because of tragedy, not because of a miracle.


End file.
